


What I would do for love

by Avrilsky



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Angst, Swearing, Torture, Violence, but the fluff is coming don't worry, ooc bucky, some smut, why won't the tags go in the order i put them? Ugh oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-03-25 14:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 86,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3813169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avrilsky/pseuds/Avrilsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Knowing Peggy Carter was dangerous, loving her meant certain death but Angie didn't care and she would do everything in her power to keep them together.</p><p>Or the one where Angie,Peggy, Jarvis and Howard are on the run from the SSR and HYDRA. (For the purpose of this story, Leviathan is a part of HYDRA.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty short but the others are much longer.Thanks for reading! This is my first Cartinelli fic, so tell me what you think? and if you think I should continue? Oh and a huge thanks to my girlfriend for being my beta.

“I look forward to hearing what this is about someday,”Angie told the brunette standing in front of her. Peggy gave a sad smile and promised, “Someday.” Peggy leaned in and pulled Angie into a tight hug. Angie pulled Peggy in as close as she could, burying her face in the other woman’s neck, breathing in the way she smelled. They both knew this was probably the last time that they will see one another. Peggy’s promise of someday was an empty promise.

Peggy pulled away and reached out to stroke Angie’s cheek. She wiped away the younger woman’s tears with her thumb, leaning forward and kissing her forehead. “Take care of yourself.” She whispered. “You too, English.”

Peggy dropped her hand and moved towards the door. “Pegs,” Angie called barely above a whisper as Peggy grasped the doorknob. Peggy turned around to look at Angie, her heart breaking at the tears streaming down Angie’s face. 

Peggy wanted nothing more than to stay here, to stay with the woman she loved but it was too dangerous. The SSR was too close for comfort and she didn’t want to drag Angie into this anymore than she already was. Angie rushed to Peggy and threw her arms around the older woman.  
“Please Pegs, don’t disappear forever, Come back to me,”Angie begged gripping Peggy’s suit tightly.

“When it’s safe I’ll return,”Peggy promised against her better judgement. She couldn’t deny the waitress the things she wanted. The moment she had met Angie at the Automat, she was a goner. As Peggy pulled away she took a pen out of the bag slung over her shoulder and took Angie’s hand. “This is Jarvis’s number, if you need anything call him. I’ll send messages through him when I can.”

“Mr. Fancy?” Angie asked. Peggy chuckled, “Yes, Mr. Fancy.”  
“Where will you go,” Angie questioned with a raised eyebrow, knowing Peggy was most likely wouldn’t tell her.  
“I can’t tell you that it’s-” “Too dangerous,” Angie interrupted. “Yes too dangerous,” Peggy nodded. 

Angie took Peggy’s face in her hands, her thumbs stroking her cheeks. “Be careful English.” “Don’t worry I’ll be fine,” Peggy said giving Angie a reassuring smile. 

Angie looked from Peggy’s eyes down to her red lips as she licked her own. Peggy’s eyes followed the motion of the younger woman’s tongue. Slowly the older woman leaned forward and pressed her lips to Angie’s.

Angie let out a slight moan and tangled her fingers in Peggy’s silky curls as Peggy’s arms locked around her waist. Peggy kissed her as if this was the last time she would ever taste the Waitress’s lips. She tried to put everything she felt for Angie into that kiss, hoping that Angie knew how much she cared for her. Peggy pulled back too soon for Angie’s liking.

“I have to go,” Peggy said sadly, pressing her forehead against Angie’s. “Pegs I…...I,” Angie looked down at her shoes unable to finish her sentence. Peggy tilted Angie’s head up till their eyes met. She kissed Angie once more and smiled.

“I love you Angela Martinelli.”  
Angie grinned the grin that Peggy had fallen in love with, a grin that Angie saved only for Peggy.  
“Shut up English, you talk too much.” Kissing Peggy quickly Angie said, “I love you too Pegs.”

They shared another smile then Peggy was out the door. Angie leaned against the closed door, fighting the urge to go after the brunette. Angie looked down at the semi smudged number on her hand and looked around for something to write it down on. 

A commotion down the hall caught Angie’s attention, followed by the sound of voices. “Oh no, Pegs,” Angie whispered running out the door and down the hall where SSR agents were picking Peggy off the ground and handcuffing her.

Upon hearing a gasp from behind her, Peggy used all her strength to fight the heaviness she felt from the poison and slowly turned her head to see Angie standing there with a hand covering her mouth. Peggy watched as Dottie walked over to the waitress and threw an arm around her shoulder. Dottie smirked at the brunette. Rage filled the brunette as Dottie offered Angie comfort.

She tried to call out to Angie, to warn her away from Dottie but nothing came out. Peggy tried to fight against the hold Thompson and Sousa had on her. “Stop fighting Carter, you’re not going anywhere.” Sousa grunted when Peggy’s elbow connected with his ribs.

Peggy was hauled out of The Griffith and into the back of a police car. She looked over to the entrance of The Griffith, catching Angie’s eyes. Angie looked terrified and Peggy wanted nothing more than to hug her and tell her everything would be okay.  
Though she wasn’t sure everything would actually be okay, she wasn’t even sure she could get out of this. Peggy could lie, charm or even fight her way out of almost everything but not this time. This time she was screwed, there was no way she would get out of the SSR headquarters. She would never be able to see Angie again, she would never be able to keep her promise. Peggy tore her eyes away from the Waitress’s and looked down at her lap as the car pulled out onto the road.

As Angie watched the car drive away, taking Peggy God knows where, she made a silent promise to do everything she could to save Peggy. She walked back into The Griffith, stopping at the first telephone she saw and dialed the number Peggy had given her. 

“Hello,” An English voice said on the other end of the telephone. “Mr. Jarvis?”


	2. Chapter 2

“Mr. Jarvis?” Angie asked, twisting the phone’s cord with her fingers as a distraction. She was hoping that Mr. Jarvis would be able to help her or she would have to turn to her father for help and she didn’t want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

“Yes….Who is this?” Jarvis asked, sounding nervous. Angie could hear him fidgeting on the other end of the line.  
“Uh, it’s Angie Martinelli,” Angie said, hoping that he would remember who she was.  
“Ahhh, the waitress from the Automat, what can I do for you Miss Martinelli?” He asked, his voice suddenly cheerful.  
“Peggy is in trouble, she was arrested just a few moments ago.”  
“I have no idea what it was that Miss Carter was involved in, nor do I know how I could help you,” Jarvis lied.

“Cut the crap Mr. Fancy, I don’t care what Peggy has done or what you have done for that matter, I just need your help getting her out of there and if you can’t help, I need you to stop wasting my time,” Angie growled into the phone trying to keep her voice as low as possible. She glanced around the lobby glaring at anyone that was staring her way. The last thing she needed was for someone to overhear her and call the SSR. It would be pretty difficult to save Peggy if she was stuck in a cell beside her. 

“I can see why Miss Carter likes you, so what’s the plan?” Jarvis asked not sounding particularly thrilled to be a part of this.

“Not one clue Mr. Fancy, I’m a waitress not a jailbreak expert,” Angie whispered harshly as she watched Ms. Fry, followed by a group of girls, walk past her and up the stairs.

“I have to go Mr. Jarvis, meet me at the Automat tomorrow morning.” Angie hung up the phone and moved to the stairs. Taking the stairs two at a time Angie rushed up after Ms. Fry.

Angie walked into Peggy’s room watching as the girls and Ms. Fry started carelessly tossing what few things Peggy owned into boxes. Sarah picked up the picture on Peggy’s dresser, turning to the girl next to her, “he’s cute,” she commented before tossing the frame in a box on the floor.

“What are you doing?” Angie asked glaring at each girl in the room before she turned to Ms. Fry. She wouldn’t allow them to just throw away Peggy’s belongings like they had done with countless other girls.

“You can’t just throw her stuff away, it’s not right,” Angie walked into the room fully, taking Peggy’s favorite red hat off of Dottie’s head. “This is Peggy’s stuff, she’ll be back to get it,” Angie all but growled at them, clenching onto the hat in her hands.

“Peggy Carter is no longer allowed in the Griffith, The Griffith is no longer her home and seeing as she was arrested she won’t be coming back for her belongings, there are other girls waiting for this room,” Ms. Fry informed, her voice cold and uncaring.

“Get out! Get out!” Angie shouted, rage filling her body. How could they just throw Peggy away as if she was nothing but trash to them? Peggy may have meant nothing to them but to Angie she meant everything, she was everything. “I will pack her things.”

Ms. Fry dismissed the girls, waiting for them all to leave the room before speaking. “Ms. Martinelli, I know Ms. Carter was your friend but she lied to you, to all of us, she’s not the person she led us to believe.” Ms. Fry had spoken softly, her hand resting on Angie’s shoulder. 

Angie brushed her hand away and shook her head.  
“I might not know everything about Peggy but she is my friend and whatever those men think she did, she didn’t do. She is a good person,” Angie said fiercely. 

Ms. Fry nodded, “I’ll leave you to pack then.” Without another word she turned on her heels and left Angie standing in the middle of Peggy’s room, still clenching the red hat tightly in her hands. 

Angie moved to the now almost empty dresser in the corner of the room and pulled open the top drawer, sitting on top was a small stack of old faded photos. Angie picked them up and sat down on the edge of the bed. She knew she should just put the photos into a box instead of going through them without Peggy’s permission but Angie couldn’t help herself, she hardly knew anything about the older woman she was hoping these photos would give her some insight into Peggy’s life.

The first picture was of a younger Peggy with an older man that had the same cocky smirk. His arm was around Peggy’s shoulder and he looked proud. Peggy’s father, Angie assumed. She flipped the picture over and read the unmistakable elegant handwriting of Peggy’s on the back ‘1936 Dad and I’

The next picture was Peggy with a woman who could have been her twin if she was younger. They had the same wide brown eyes, the same curly brunette hair, the same strong features. They both stood with the same confidence, like they alone could take on all of the world’s problems. Peggy stood with her hands on her hips, smiling over at the woman. The older woman smiled down at Peggy. Flipping the picture over Angie read the writing. “ Peggy, my darling, please be safe over in America. Come back to your father and I, and bring some grandkids with you, Love Mum.”

The next picture was of a scrawny soldier with boyish features. He stood at attention next to Peggy, a small smile playing at his lips. Peggy almost towered over the man, her face was set into a hardline, but her eyes showed affection. There was only one word written on the back of the photo in Peggy’s handwriting. ‘Steve.’  
The last picture was of a group of men standing around Peggy, all of them holding some kind of gun and smiling. They all wore the same military uniforms except for Peggy whom’s shirt was torn at her right shoulder. A bandage was wrapped around her shoulder and chest, with two large dark spots on it, which Angie assumed was blood. Angie gasped, her hand coming to up and covering her mouth. She knew whatever Peggy did was dangerous but she never knew that Peggy was ever shot, never knew she was almost killed.

Panic filled the brunette, she knew that she had to get Peggy out of the SSR soon before she got hurt, or worse killed.

A few hours later…...

Jarvis pulled into the alley between the Bell Company and another office building. He shut the engine off and turned to Angie, who was sitting in the passenger seat playing with her fingers. She looked nervous but determined.

“Let me go in first, I have a plan Miss Martinelli,” Jarvis said as he reached behind the front seat and pulled out a brown leather briefcase before stepping out of the car. He leans down and sticks his head in the window, flashing Angie what he thought to be a confident smile but looked more like a uncertain smile. “Give me thirty minutes, if we are not out by then, you can go along with your plan.” Jarvis stood smoothing his hands over his suit.

Angie leaned over the front seat and looked up at Jarvis. “Be careful Mr. Fancy.”  
“I am always careful Miss Martinelli,” he assured the waitress before walking down the alley and towards the Bell Company.

Jarvis smoothed his hand over his suit again, straightened up his back, and held his head high as he walked through the doors and to the elevator. Sweat broke out on his brows as he waited for the elevator doors to open, he felt eyes on him as he stood there. A ding sounded a few seconds later as the elevator doors slid open. Jarvis stepped through and pressed the button for the 5th floor.

The doors of the elevator opened and Jarvis stepped into a room with at least ten women lining one wall, some were answering calls as others turned to stare at him. He walked over to a woman with reddish blonde hair, black framed glasses, and a floral dress on.

“Pardon me.”  
She looked up at him with a fake smile, one hand reaching for the gun under her desk. “Sir, can I help you?” She asked, her fake smile growing wider. 

“Yes, I am looking for Chief Dooley.”

“Um, sorry I don’t know who that is.” Her smile never faltering as she spoke. Jarvis watched as her hand gripped the brown handle of her revolver and started to pull it from it’s holster.

“He runs this operation, The SSR that is,” Jarvis tilts his head towards the door. “I’ve been here before for questioning.“  
“Sir, I..I wish that I could help you but we are very busy and only authorized personnel are allowed in here.”  
“Can’t you just,” He motioned towards the phone board. “Punch him up on your board and tell him that Edwin Jarvis is here,” He lifts his briefcase up and smiled. “With the signed confession of Howard Stark.” His smiled brightened when everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at him.  
The woman turned around and plugged a cord into the board, she looked back up at Jarvis. “Hold please.”

The door beside Jarvis swings open and Jack Thompson appears. “Chief Dooley will see you now, right this way Mr. Jarvis.” Jack held his hand up gesturing down the hall. Jarvis smiled a thank you to the woman and followed Jack down the hall. Jarvis followed the slightly shorter man to a room at the end of the hall. All eyes were on them as the walked across the office. Hush whispers broke out among the men in the office.

“Chief Dooley will be with you soon.” Jack grunted opening up a door that had Interrogation written across it and leading Jarvis inside.  
“Oh Miss Carter.” Jarvis gasped as he moved to the table in the middle of the room, which Peggy was handcuffed to. Thompson moved quickly and handcuffed Jarvis to the table as well. “Make yourself comfortable Mr. Jarvis.” He laughed leaving the room.

“What are you doing here, Mr. Jarvis?” Peggy asked quietly, running her tongue over her bruised and bloody lip.

“I’m here to get you out of here,” he answered, pulling a handkerchief out of his suit pocket. “What did they do to you?” He started to wipe away the blood on Peggy’s bruised face.  
“Tried to get me to talk,” she grunted.

“And you didn’t,” Jarvis answered, wiping away the blood from Peggy’s lip and nose. He brushed her brunette hair out of her face and dabs at the cut above her eyebrow. “I’ll tend to your wounds better when we get out of here.”

“And how exactly are we going to do that, Mr. Jarvis?” She asked, looking up at him with an arched eyebrow.  
“I haven’t the slightest clue, I didn’t expect to be handcuffed to a table.” Jarvis stressed each word by pulling on said handcuffs.

Peggy half listened to him as she stared at the one way mirror, trying to formulate a plan out of here. “Mr. Jarvis, how would you feel if we smashed that mirror with this table?” Peggy asked looking up at the butler.

He looked down at her then up at the mirror, smiling slightly. “I would feel splendid about it.”

“Then on the count of three.”  
“Battering ram.” Jarvis smirked.  
Turning the table lengthwise, they each grabbed a side. “Ready?” Jarvis asked.   
“One…. Two,” They echoed, swinging the table back and forth to gain momentum. Right before Peggy said three, Jarvis stopped swinging. 

“Wait,” He called “What if there are people behind this mirror that we are breaking.?”  
“Then they may get hurt, there will be a spray of glass.”   
“I see.” Jarvis nodded, looking back at the mirror.

They start to swing the table back and forth again. “One….Two,”   
“ No! Wait!” Jarvis called again, looking at Peggy as she rolled her eyes.   
“What if these hypothetical people behind this mirror have gun?”   
“Then we may get hurt, there will be a spray of bullets.” Peggy replied.   
“I see.”

Once more they started to swing the table. “One….two,”   
Peggy prayed that Jarvis wouldn’t stop them this time.   
“Three,” Jarvis counted as the table rammed into the mirror. The glass broke into several pieces, falling on both sides of the room. Setting the table back down, Jarvis smiled at the brunette. 

“No people,” he stated. “Everybody wins.”

“I just thought of something,” Peggy proclaimed.  
“We are still attached to a table.” Jarvis said, pulling at the handcuffs.   
“We are still attached to a table,” Peggy repeated. They stared at each other for a few seconds then looked down at the cuffs. “Bloody hell,” Peggy whispered, tugging at the handcuffs forcibly.

“What the hell is going on in here?”


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy and Jarvis both look towards the now broken mirror, seeing Angie standing there with her arms folded and smiling. Angie’s smile turned to a frown when she saw Peggy’s bruised and cut face.   
“Oh Pegs.”

She quickly climbed into the room, moving to Peggy’s side and taking her face in her hands.  
“What are you doing here Angie?” Peggy asked, anger lining her voice as she looked from the waitress to Jarvis.   
“I came to get you out of here.”

“You shouldn’t have Angie, you put yourself in danger,” Peggy said, looking around for something to undo the handcuffs with. “If anyone sees you here, you will be arrested and charged with treason.”

“I couldn’t just let you rot in jail or be killed.” Angie growled at the brunette.  
“Well you should have,” Peggy fired back.

It wasn’t that Peggy wasn’t happy to see Angie, because she was. What she wasn’t happy about was that Angie risked her freedom and her life to save her. Peggy had left the Griffith to protect Angie. Walking away from the waitress was the only way Peggy knew to protect her from the SSR and Leviathan. If they knew what Angie meant to Peggy, she would be a target for the rest of her life, they would try to get to her to get to Peggy.

“Maybe we should talk about this elsewhere,” Jarvis interrupted the two women glaring at each other.   
“Right,” Peggy sighed looking down.

“Here,” Angie whispered pulling a bobby pin from her hair and handing it to Peggy. “I’m assuming you can use this to get out of those.”  
Peggy nodded her thanks and set to picking the lock on the handcuffs. Once the handcuffs fell away from her wrist, Peggy turned to Jarvis and went about undoing his cuffs as well. Once Jarvis was free, he rubbed at his wrist smiling at Peggy.

“We need to move quickly, once they realize we are gone all of the SSR will be after us.” Peggy said as she helped Angie over the broken mirror. Both Jarvis and Angie nodded, following the burnette out of room and quickly across the hall to the stairwell. Peggy took Angie’s hand as she took the stairs two at a time.

“Peggy, don’t do this,” Thompson yelled as Peggy, Angie, and Jarvis rushed down the alley towards the parked car. “You’ll only make things worse for yourself.”

“I’m sorry Jack but I have to clear mine and Howard’s name, there’s more to this than you know.” Peggy said, her hand on the door handle, her eyes meeting Jack’s. Jack raised his pistol, aiming it at Peggy’s chest.  
“Don’t make me do this,” he pleaded as he walked closer to the car. “Just come back inside Carter, they can leave and we’ll pretend this jailbreak never happened.” Jack motioned with his pistol to Jarvis and Angie, who stood on the other side of the car.

“I can’t,” Peggy’s eyes darted over to Angie, who was inching her way closer to Jack. Peggy slightly shook her head no at the waitress.  
“Trust me.” Angie mouthed to Peggy.

“All of New York is in danger and only I can stop Leviathan, and I am so close to finding out who Leviathan is, you just have to let me go, let me find them and finish this so no one else gets hurt.” Peggy kept talking, kept Jack’s attention on her as Angie moved closer to him. She wasn’t sure what Angie was going to do but she knew if Jack saw her coming at him, he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot her.

“For all we know Carter, it could be you who is behind Leviathan.”   
“You and the butler here are the only people close enough to Stark to steal his inventions.”

“You have to trust me Jack.”  
“Trust you?”Jack laughed. “How can I trust you? You’ve been lying to us since this whole thing started.”  
“It was the only way to clear Howards name!” Peggy shouted throwing her hands up. “Every one of you were willing to believe that he would put this Country in danger, you all seemed to forget that he’s the reason the war is over.”

Angie moved as quickly as she could towards the angry SSR agent, she squared her shoulders brought her arm back, using her full weight (just like her brother had taught her) she punched Jack in the jaw, sending him stumbling a few feet. Peggy rushed towards them. She grabbed the barrel of the pistol, bringing her other hand up and karate chopped his wrist, twisting and squeezing his wrist till the pistol was pointed at his stomach. Jack quickly let go of the pistol and stepped back with his hands up.

“Get in the car,” Peggy ordered Angie and Jarvis as she kept the gun trained on Jack. She backed towards the car slowly, keeping her eyes on Thompson the whole time. “I’m sorry Jack.” She called out to him as she got into the car.  
“We’ll never stop Carter, we’ll keep coming after you and Howard, no matter where you go we will find you. You both will pay for your crimes against this Country!” Jack yelled pulling his second pistol from the holster strapped to his leg.  
He aimed at the retreating car and fired 5 shots.

The back windshield exploded as the first bullet went through it. Tiny shards of the windshield hit Angie in the cheek, cutting at her skin. Angie whimpered as her hand came up and lightly touched one of the cuts.   
“Get on the floor,” Peggy ordered as she moved to seat between the driver and passenger seat. She raised the pistol in her hand and fired a shot at Thompson. Half a second later another bullets tore through the left side of Peggy’s stomach.  
“Bloody hell.” Peggy cried out and moved into the back seat.

“Peggy, are you okay?” Angie asked, her voice filled with fear and worry.  
“I’m fine.” Peggy grunted, firing two more shots at Thompson before pulling her suit jacket off. Angie gasped when she caught sight of the blood quickly soaking Peggy’s white blouse.   
“Oh Pegs.”

“How bad is it?” Jarvis asked from the driver seat, turning his head to look at Peggy for a second. “I’ll live, just get us out of here Mr. Jarvis.”

Angie grabbed Peggy’s suit jacket and pressed it to the brunette’s wound, trying to slow the bleeding. Peggy gave her a small smile before turning back towards the back windshield and firing the last two bullets in the pistol. Peggy dropped the gun in the seat and leaned back.  
“Press harder.”

Angie nodded and pressed the jacket harder on the wound. Peggy hissed in pain and reached for Angie’s free hand. “I’m sorry, i’m sorry.” Angie repeated over and over as she applied pressure to the wound.  
“Jarvis, I think you need to drive faster, there is a lot of blood and Peggy is starting to go pale.”  
“I’m fine.” Peggy said, her voice low. “I’ve had worse.” At Peggy’s words Angie remember the picture of Peggy with the bandage around her shoulder. Peggy was right, she has had worse but that did little to reassure Angie that Peggy would be okay.

“Keep her talking Miss Martinelli, keep pressure on that wound. I’m driving as fast as I can, we’ll be there soon,” Jarvis replied as he swerved in and out of traffic.

“Tell me about Steve.” Angie said as she moved up on the seat, pulling Peggy into her lap and pressing harder on the wound.   
“How do you know about Steve?” Peggy asked looking up at the brunette. 

“I saw his picture while I was packing your stuff up.” Peggy nodded and turned her head away from the waitress. The pain she felt from the gunshot wound paled in comparison to the pain and guilt she felt over a boy from Brooklyn, over someone she knew what felt like a lifetime ago.

Minutes passed by in silence, Angie worried that Peggy may have passed out from blood loss.

“Steve Rogers, was the greatest man I have ever known, he was selfless, he was brave, he was a hero in every sense of the word, he was my friend and,” She paused and closed her eyes tightly, remembering her last words to Steve, the promise of a dance they would never share.  
“He was someone I loved deeply.” She spoke quietly, barely above a whisper. Angie had to lean in to hear what she was saying.  
“What happened to him?” Angie asked. Peggy turned to look at her, her eyes filled with pain and unshed tears.   
“That’s a story for another time my darling.”

Angie nodded and stroked the older woman’s cheek with her thumb. “I wish I could have met him.”  
Peggy gave her a soft smile and placed her hand over Angie’s. “You would have liked him.”

Jarvis brought the car to a stop in front of a bright yellow house with a broken white fences around it.  
“Can you walk Miss Carter?” Jarvis asked as he stepped out of the car and help both Peggy and Angie out. Peggy nodded her head yes but Jarvis wrapped an arm around her hip, just below her gunshot and let Peggy lean on him.   
“Where are we?” Peggy asked.

“My brother’s,” Angie replied with a smile as a tall man with short, light brown hair walked down the stairs and over to the trio.   
“Angie, you’re putting him in danger,” Peggy whispered.   
“Don’t worry Pegs, he can take care of himself,” Angie said, moving to hug her brother.

Angie threw her arms around her older brother and hugged him tightly. When they pulled away, he put his fingers under Angie’s chin and tilted her head up inspecting the cuts on her cheek. Angie watched his eyes flash in anger, dropping his hand and turning his attention to Jarvis and Peggy. He sidestepped Angie, taking two steps towards Jarvis and grabbing him by his collar, yanking him away from Peggy.

“Did you hurt my sister?” He asked, fist raised.  
“No, I would never lay a hand on a woman,” Jarvis stated calmly.  
“George let him go!”Angie yelled.

Peggy remembered this man from the war, he was once a prisoner of HYDRA.  
“Private Martinelli, let go of Mr. Jarvis right now or I will break your arm in three places.” Peggy ordered, standing up straight despite the pain in her side. She may have been bruised and bleeding, getting paler by the second and barely standing on two feet but she still look terrifying when threatening someone.

George let go of Jarvis immediately and stood at attention, saluting Peggy. “Sergeant Carter, I apologize.”  
Jarvis and Angie exchanged confused looks.

“Relax Private,” Peggy said softly, saluting George. As soon as the words were out of Peggy’s mouth, George launched himself at Peggy.   
“George! Stop!” Angie shouted at her brother, moving forward to grab him. Peggy waved Angie away as George pulled her into a side hug.  
“How are your first aid skills these days Private?” Peggy asked, hugging George back.   
“A little rusty but I can patch you up Sergeant,” he replied stepping out of the hug.

“Call me Peggy, we are no longer in the war George.”  
George grinned at Peggy, one that matched the grin Angie always gave her.   
“Right well, let’s go inside and get this taken care of.” Peggy smiled and had George help her inside.

Angie and Jarvis stared after them for a few seconds.  
“What the hell just happened Mr. Fancy?”  
“I have no clue Miss Martinelli,” Jarvis said, fixing his suit and following Angie inside the house.

“How do you two know each other?”Angie asked when they were all settled in George’s living room. Peggy and Angie sat on the couch against the far wall, Angie was running her fingers through Peggy’s hair as George tried to pull the bullet from Peggy’s side. Jarvis stood close by watching George’s every move and handing him supplies as he needed them.

It was George who answered Angie’s question. “During the war my unit and I had been taken captive by some Germans.”   
“I remember, Ma and Pa got a letter saying you were MIA,” Angie interrupted her brother.  
“Hush so I can tell the story Ang,” George snapped. Peggy raised an eyebrow at him.   
“Sorry Ang,” he mumbled as he poured whiskey over Peggy gunshot.

Peggy groaned and bit the inside of her cheek as a burning sensation spread all over her side. “Bloody hell,” she breathed as George poured more whiskey onto her skin.   
“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Angie whispered in her ear, rubbing her hand up and down Peggy’s back.  
“I’m fine,” Peggy said behind gritted teeth. Angie kissed the side of Peggy’s head and whispered “Lair.”

George watched them for a long moment, taking in the way Angie smiled at Peggy. He had seen that same smile on her once before when they were teenagers. He knew that Angie was in love with the older woman and he just hoped this time would turn out better than the last, he wasn’t sure if he could put his sister’s heart back together again.

“Anyways, we had been locked in this dark, cramped room that smelled of urine and vomit for weeks then one night the sirens around the compound started going off, my whole unit started to freak before we knew it the ground started to shake as explosions started going off and there was gunfire that lasted till morning.” He paused as he started the sutures.

“Most of the guys had given up hope, thinking our guys had lost then the door busted open and standing in the doorway was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.”   
Peggy rolled her eyes at the man when he smirked at her. Angie studied the side of the other woman’s face. Peggy was definitely the most beautiful woman Angie had ever seen. Angie could not help herself as she turned Peggy’s face towards her’s gently, she pressed her lips to slightly bruised ones in a slow kiss.  
“And behind her, standing in all his heroic glory was Captain America,” George continued ignoring the kiss.

“You knew Captain America!” Angie shouted at both the agent and her brother. Peggy grabbed the whiskey bottle from the table beside the couch and gulped some down, ignoring the burning in her throat, this was not the way she wanted to have the Steve was Captain America conversation with Angie. She had so much to explain to the waitress and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!! so glad you guys are liking the story so far.


	4. Chapter 4

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you knew Captain America, after all those nights listening to that stupid radio show together.” Angie paced back and forth in front of the couch Peggy was sitting at.  
The brunette had tried to get up to stop the waitress’s pacing but Jarvis had pushed her back on the couch and told her to stay while he and George went to get rid of their getaway car, George throwing an ‘I’m sorry’ over his shoulder to Peggy as they left.

Guilt washed over Peggy in waves with every word out of the waitress’s mouth. She hated that she had to lie to Angie from the beginning but she had to protect Angie, she refused to let another person be killed just for knowing her. She still felt the weight of Colleen’s death everyday. 

“I couldn’t tell you Angie, it was classified.”

“Classified my ass Carter, you could have told me.”  
Peggy stared at the waitress with surprised eyes, never had she heard such a word leave the younger girl’s lips. 

“I couldn’t tell you, it would have put you in danger,” Peggy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “More danger than I had already put you in by just knowing you, I was trying to protect you Angie,” Peggy whispered the last part. 

“I don’t need you to protect me Peggy, what I need is for you not to keep secrets from me.”

“I was going to tell you, once we were away from New York, once I knew we could stay in one place for more than a few days, once I had time to explain everything to you. I don’t like keeping secrets from you Angie but I did what I had to do to keep you safe and I would do it all over again.” Peggy reached out and grabbed the waitress’s hand, pulling her closer. 

She cupped the younger girl’s face in her hands, staring into those blue eyes that were filled with rage, betrayal and so much hurt. 

“Don’t you understand that everything I have done since the minute I met you was to keep you safe, keep you alive because I couldn’t lose you, I love you Angie.” Tears slowly slid down the brunette’s cheeks but she made no move to wipe them away.

“I don’t even know you, I have no idea who you really are.” The words rolled off Angie’s tongue before she had a chance to stop them. Regret crossed her features as soon as the words left her mouth. 

Suddenly Jarvis appeared in the living room, gripping Angie’s arm tightly and pulling her to her feet.  
“Jarvis, it’s fine she didn’t mean it.” Peggy called from her spot on the couch as Jarvis pulled Angie out of the room. 

“I know you are upset and I know you feel betrayed but you need to calm down before you say something else you might regret,” Jarvis said through clenched teeth. “Miss. Carter will brush everything you say to her off right now, because she understands that you are upset but that doesn’t give you the right to say things like that to her.” He paced back and forth in front of Angie. 

He turned towards her quickly, making her jump.  
“That woman in there has given more for her Country than anyone I know, she has sacrificed more than anyone, she has lost the one person she has ever loved until you. Do you know what it took for her to let herself fall in love with you? Do you understand how hard it was for her?” He asked. Angie shook her head no, looking down at her feet.  
“She kept things from you to protect you, her intentions were never to hurt you Miss Martinelli. Take some time, calm down then apologize to her and give her time to explain herself when she is ready.” Jarvis turned on his heels and walked out of the room and back to Peggy.

“Mr. Jarvis.” The agent called from the couch. “Yes Miss Carter?” 

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I couldn’t, I wouldn’t let her hurt you. My loyalties lie with you Miss Carter.” 

Peggy stood and pulled Jarvis into a tight hug, resting her head on his shoulder. “You are possibly the best friend I have ever had Edwin, thank you.”  
“You are very welcome Peggy.”

Hours passed and night fell over the bright yellow house. Angie walked back into the pitch black living room with a clean set of clothes in one hand and a burger from the diner down the street. The waitress walked farther into the room, looking for a light switch and tripped over a pair of her brother’s work boots.  
“Dammit,” she cursed under her breath, trying to balance herself.

Peggy was passed out on the couch, one hand covering her bandage and the other gripping tightly the pistol that George had given her.  
Peggy jerked up right at the noise, pointing the pistol at the source of the noise, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkest. She knew it wasn’t safe, that they weren’t safe here, but she let her guard down, fell asleep, she just hoped that Angie, Jarvis, and George wouldn’t pay for her mistakes.  
She stood as quickly and quietly as she could, gritting her teeth against the pain radiating from her side. She moved silently towards the intruder, gun pointed in the general direction of their head.

Angie shuffled forward,searching for the end table with a lamp on it. She stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the cold, hard metal of a gun barrel pressed against her forehead. A thin layer of sweat broke out over the waitress’s skin, her breathing became heavier, her heart pounded away in her chest and her whole body trembled as the gun was pressed harder into her forehead.  
“English,” she whispered in a shaky voice. It was a prayer that the agent would come running to save her, it was a goodbye, it was an unspoken I love you, it was an apology for the hurtful things she had said earlier. 

Suddenly the gun disappeared from her forehead and two arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her forward and into a hug.  
“I’m so sorry my Darling,” Peggy whispered. “I didn’t know it was you.”

Angie gripped Peggy’s back tightly, her nails digging into the older woman’s skin as tears fell from her eyes.  
“I got you my Dear, I got you,” Peggy whispered helping Angie to the couch. As soon as they were seated Angie was in Peggy’s lap, her face buried in Peggy’s neck. Peggy readjusted the other woman so there was no weight on her left side. Peggy ran her hands up and down Angie’s back slowly, whispering sweet nothings to her as she cried into Peggy’s neck.

“Ti amo, ti amo, ti amo,” Angie repeated in Italian over and over again into the agent’s neck as her tears died down.  
“I know dear, anche io ti amo.”

“Angie...” The agent moaned as the younger girl’s lips kissed a trail up and down her neck. Angie pulled away from Peggy’s neck, turning Peggy’s face towards her much like she had earlier that day and pressed her lips to Peggy’s. This kiss wasn’t slow, wasn’t soft, rather it was rough and filled with a passion she had only ever felt for the brunette agent. 

Her fingers tangled in soft curls and she bit lightly at already bruised lips. Another moan escaped Peggy’s lips and she pulled Angie closer, trying to feel more of the younger girl against her. Peggy’s hands found their way down Angie’s back, dragging them along earning a deep moan for the waitress. Her hands trailed farther down her back to her butt. 

Just as quickly as it had start, it was over and Angie was left alone of the couch. Confused, she looked around the room for Peggy. She spotted the brunette by the front window, gun in hand, her body tense. 

“Angie, find Jarvis and your brother now but do not leave the house,” the agent ordered her not taking her eyes from the window, watching as three figures walked up the porch.  
“What’s wrong Pegs?” Angie asked coming to stand next to Peggy as she tucked the gun into the side of her skirt. 

“Now Angie!” As soon as the words left Peggy’s mouth a door was flung open and a man stepped through. 

Peggy rushed the man landing a punch to his stomach then kneeing him in the groin. She grabbed a fist full of his hair and bringing his head down hard against her knee, breaking his nose and knocking him out.

Angie stood watching for the side, hand covering her mouth.  
“Move you arse Martinelli!” Peggy said grabbing another man that just rushed through the door, slamming his face into the door frame and letting him drop to the ground.

Minutes later Angie returned with Jarvis and George on her heels as another two men came through the door, this time wielding batons. 

Peggy ducked her head barely missing the baton being aimed at her head. She picked up the closest object, which happened to be a telephone, and hit the man over the head until he fell to the ground as George took care of the other guy.

“Private I want you to take your car and get Angie out of here, ditch your car a couple of miles from here and get another one, do not talk to anyone at all, do you understand Private?” Peggy asked him.  
He nodded his head,.“I’m not leaving you English,” Angie yelled.  
Peggy looked back at George. “By force if necessary Private.”  
“Yes Sergeant,” he replied grabbing Angie by the arm.

“Mr. Jarvis, you too. Take them to Starks if I am not there in two days you leave New York. Don’t tell anyone where you are going, don’t take anything with you, just get the hell out of town.” 

“I’m not leaving you Miss Carter.” Jarvis said staring Peggy down. “You cannot take on all these men alone.” He motioned towards the front of the house where at least twenty men stood.  
“Get them out of here Private Martinelli.” Peggy voice filled with an authority Angie nor Jarvis had heard before. 

“No!” Angie yelled louder than before, stomping her foot on the ground and ripping her arm from her brother’s grip, getting in the agent’s face. “How will you find us if we leave town?”

“Angie my dear, I will find you, I will always find you but I need you safe right now, I need you to go please.” Peggy begged the waitress’s, her hand coming to rest on the younger woman’s cheek.  
“I need you safe,” Peggy repeated softer this time. 

“I can’t leave you English, I won’t.”  
Peggy leaned down and pressed her lips to Angie’s  
“Ti amo,” she whispered then looked up at George.

“Private.”  
“Yes ma’am.” He nodded grabbing Angie around the waist and leading her and Jarvis away from Peggy. 

“If you die Peggy Carter, I will find a way to bring you back and I will kill you myself!” Angie yelled as she was dragged out the house. The agent shook her head, fighting off a smile. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear the Italian waitress from her mind. The last thing she need right now was to be distracted.

 

“Miss Martinelli, please stop your pacing.” Jarvis called from his place at the stove where he was cooking lunch to stop himself from wearing holes in the floors by pacing like the waitress. She glared up at him but took a seat on the kitchen counter, drumming her fingers on her thighs. She was so incredibly nervous and scared half to death that she could hardly sit still. 

It had been a day and a half since they left Peggy at George’s house to face all those men and they hadn’t heard from her. Angie had begged her brother to take her back, begged him to save Peggy but he had refused, saying something about not disobeying orders and Angie had punched him so hard the knuckles on her right hand were a deep purple. 

“Can we just ride by there?” Angie asked looking up at her brother who sat at the small kitchen table, hunched over a map he found in the library up stairs. “Just to see if she made it out.” 

He sighed and looked up at her, his blue eyes tired from the lack of sleep. He had to guard the doors at night to make sure Angie didn’t make another run for it. 

Her chest tightened and she sucked in a sharp breath, fighting back tears. All she could think about was the brunette possibly hurt and beaten, near death lying on George’s living room floor in need of help. A sharp pain shot through her chest as she imagined her beautiful English agent dying alone. She choked back a sob and suddenly Jarvis was at her side, his hand rubbing up and down her back.

“She will be fine, she’s been through worse and lived,” he spoke softly to the waitress. “She will come back to you.”  
She looked up at the butler with tears rolling down her face. “I keep seeing her dying, I can’t get it out of my head,” She cried. “I can’t lose her Jarvis.” 

“You’re not going to lose me my darling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this took forever to put up, so sorry for the wait. I will try to update at least once a week, maybe more if you are lucky. Thanks for reading guys! and a big thank you to my gf for reading over this.


	5. Chapter 5

“You’re not going to lose me, my darling.” 

Never has that English accent sounded so good to Angie’s ears. It was music to her ears, the most beautiful music she had ever heard. She looked up and there Peggy was leaning against the wall, looking like she would fall over at any second. 

“I will find a first aid and run a bath,” Jarvis said, squeezing the agent’s shoulder as he walked by.

Angie just stared at Peggy for a minute, taking in her mess of curls, taking in the new cuts and bruises to her beautiful face. Her eyes moved farther down noticing Peggy’s shirt had more blood on it than the last time she had saw her and it was tore in a few places. Peggy stood with one leg bent awkwardly and blood dripping down her leg slowly. 

Angie knew she was hurt, knew she was barely able to keep herself upright but that didn’t stop the waitress from throwing herself into Peggy’s arms causing them to fall to the floor with a thud. Peggy grunted as they hit the floor.

“Sorry,”Angie said with a sheepish grin, looking down at Peggy. She hadn’t meant to hurt the older woman any more than she already was but she was just so relieved to see her agent alive, maybe not well but alive and that’s all that mattered. 

“It’s quite alright my love,” Peggy smiled, brushes hair out of Angie’s face so she could look into her eyes. Angie ran her finger over the fresh cut of the other woman’s bottom lip. She wanted to kiss her, she needed to kiss her, she needed to feel every inch of the brunette to know this wasn’t some dream, to know that Peggy was really here, really alive and breathing. 

“Does it hurt?” She asked, looking into deep brown eyes. Peggy shook her head no and that was all Angie needed. She ran her fingers along Peggy’s now bruised jaw, down her neck and around to the back of her neck, grabbing ahold of it and pulling Peggy in for a kiss. Peggy smiled against the waitress’s lips and gripped her hips pulling her as close as she could. 

Somewhere behind them Jarvis cleared his throat as he entered the room.   
“Your bath is ready Miss Carter, when you are done I will tend to your injuries,” he said walking over to the couple on the floor, holding both of his hands out to help them up. Once they were off the floor he led them both to the upstairs bathroom. 

“There’s fresh towels in there and a robe for you to put after, I’ll be downstairs finishing lunch,” Jarvis said, placing him hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly.   
“I am glad you are alright Miss Carter.” With that he turned and walked away from the two women. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” Angie said leaning in and kissing Peggy’s cheek. “Just call if you need anything.”   
Peggy grabbed her arm as she started to walk away.   
“Sit with me?” She asked. She didn’t want to be without the waitress. Angie smiled and nodded her head, following the agent into the bathroom. 

Angie helped Peggy unbutton her shirt and slide it off the brunette’s shoulders slowly then helped her remove her bra, leaving Peggy in just her skirt and stockings. The waitress’s eyes roamed Peggy’s body starting at her neck. Peggy’s right shoulder had dried blood on it, just under her breasts was a deep purplish blue bruise that spread along her ribcage. The bandage that was covering her gunshot the day before was gone and the wound was a bright red that stood out against her pale skin. Even with all that, Angie still thought the older woman was the most beautiful person she had laid eyes on.

Angie reached from a washcloth, dipped it in the water and wrung it out some. She wiped the dried blood from Peggy’s right shoulder gently, revealing a deep cut next to the two scarred gunshot wounds from long ago. She leaned forwards and placed a soft kiss just above the cut then ran a finger lightly over the scarred puckered skin. She kissed one scar then the other. 

“They did this to you?” Angie asked, dipping the washcloth back into the warm water.   
“Those idiots from the SSR barely landed a punch.” Peggy laughed lightly, watching as Angie carefully cleaned her injuries. 

“Who did this then?”

“Dottie.” 

“Dottie Underwood?” Angie asked, setting the washcloth aside and reached for the zipper on Peggy’s skirt. Peggy nodded her head yes. 

“Peggy Carter, you got your ass kicked by smiles way too wide and overly excited Dottie Underwood?” Angie teased, smiling up at Peggy and kneeling in front of her, slowly pulling her skirt down. 

“Yes, well she is a highly trained assassin,” Peggy informed.   
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, English.” 

Angie reached up and undid Peggy’s garters and slide one stocking then the other down her legs, trying to cause as little pain as she could to the deep gash that runs down Peggy’s inner left thigh to well past her knee. She didn’t understand how Peggy could still be standing up let alone walking. 

“This one is really bad Pegs,” She comments as she wipes away the blood but it was useless because dark red blood continued to flow out of the gash.

“You should have let us stay to help you, you shouldn’t have tried to play the hero Pegs,” Angie said softly, finishing undressing Peggy and helped her into the bathtub. Peggy lets out a soft sigh as she sinks into the warm water. The soreness she felt all the way down to her bones finally subsiding some. 

“If you had stayed and you got hurt, I would have never forgiven myself Angie.” Peggy turns and rest her arms on the side of the tub, staring over at Angie. 

“You are my weakness, the one thing they can take away from me that would destroy me and if they found out how much you really mean to me then they would stop at nothing to take you, torture you just to get at me.” She reached her hand out for Angie, whom moved closer to the tub, kneeling down in front of it. The agent traced her fingers along the waitress’s jawline.  
“You say you cannot lose me Angie but it is I that cannot lose you, you are young and you would forget me and the hurt of losing me before long,”

“I would not!” Angie said with conviction. 

“But I would feel the loss of you every day for the rest of my life, I would close my eyes at night and see your breathtaking smile. I needed you to leave because my love for you consumes me, my love for you makes me forget my training and makes me do foolish things,” Peggy carried on as if Angie hadn’t interrupted her. 

“You know, you are not much older than me,” Angie said smiling softly at the agent. 

“Yes, well I have seen much more of the world than you, felt more pain, felt more loss, and seen more of the evil in the world. That makes me feel a thousand times older than I actually am.” Peggy sighs deeply like the weight she carries around with her has finally become too much for her to bare alone. 

It was silent for a few minutes after that. Peggy stared down at her hands and Angie stared at Peggy, trying to find the right words to say to the brunette, who seemed so lost in thought.

Angie reached out and grabbed a cup sitting beside the tub. She filled it with water from the tub and slowly wet Peggy’s hair. The agent sighed once more and leaned her head back some. Angie began washing the brunette’s hair, massaging her scalp as she went, trying to relax her.

“You don’t have to carry the world around by yourself, you know, I have pretty strong shoulders,” Angie whispered after a while.   
“I have been doing it so long I’m not sure I know how to share the burden.”

“It’s easy, all you have to do is talk,” Angie said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Maybe it was to anyone who wasn’t Peggy Carter, her life and the lives of the people around her had always depended on keeping secrets and now here she was with a waitress asking her to spill all her secrets. 

Angie watched Peggy battle with herself, with her training for a while and then she spoke and once she had started it was like a flood gate opened up. She told Angie everything, from the day she joined the British Armed Forces, to the start of Project Rebirth and hand picking a boy from Brooklyn with a heart of gold, to the moments leading up to the day they had save George and his unit. Peggy told her of the promise made to Steve about teaching him to dance and how she had talked to Steve as his plane crashed into the ice and how for months she was lost in a sea of guilt and grief. 

Peggy sat in that bathtub and told Angie everything long after the water had gone cold. When she had started to shiver from the cold, Angie helped her out wrapping a plush towel around her and they sat on the bathroom floor and kept talking, Angie holding her hand the whole time and wiping away her tears as they fell.

It had been as easy as Angie said it was and Peggy wondered why she didn’t do this sooner. 

A knock sounded on the door and Jarvis called out to them from the other side.   
“Miss Carter, I really need to tend to your injuries and lunch is getting cold.” He huffed the last part out, almost as if he was pouting, more upset that the meal he had prepared was getting cold than the fact that Peggy could be bleeding out from her injuries. 

Peggy stood up as graceful as ever, pulling the towel around her tighter and reaching her hand out for Angie. Angie smiled and allowed Peggy to help her up. Angie wrapped her arms around Peggy’s bare shoulder, giving the agent a dazzling smile. 

“You should get dressed before Mr. Fancy throws a fit.”   
Peggy nodded her head but made no attempt to move. Instead, she pulled Angie in for a heated kiss, smirking when the waitress moans softly against her lips. Peggy kisses her harder and digs her nails up and down her back. Her hands move down to the waitress’s butt, pulling her closer until they are flush against one another. Peggy kisses down her jawline to her neck, nipping at her pulse point, causing Angie to moan a little louder this time and then she’s gone, throwing a smirk over her shoulder.

“No fair English!” Angie yelled as Peggy left her alone in the bathroom, trying to catch her breath.   
“You got it bad Ang.” George laughed from where he was leaning against the door frame, having come up to get them out of the bathroom. 

“Screw you Georgie.” She flipped him off and stalked down the stairs. Once she’s at the bottom of the stairs the front door swings open and a man with short black hair and a mustache few men could pull off walks in like he owns the place with a blonde woman on his arm laughing at something he said. All three of them stop and just stare at each other. 

“Um Pegs!” Angie calls.

Peggy grabbed the gun that Jarvis left on the bed for her and moved out the room as fast as possible, gun pointed out in front of her. There’s no way the SSR could have found them so fast, Peggy was so sure they had at least another day before they had to leave New York for good.   
Peggy was down the stairs and by Angie’s side in seconds, pointing the gun towards the door.

“Howard.” Peggy sighed, dropping the gun to her side.   
“I’m sorry Peggy,” He smirked at her, eyeing Angie. “I didn’t realize you would be using the house this weekend.”   
He looked Peggy up at down, taking in her half buttoned up shirt, her chest on full display. “Did we interrupt?” 

“What are you even doing in New York?” She asked ignoring the urge to punch the smirk off his face.   
“I heard you got arrested,” he said as if it would explain everything. 

“And you what, thought you were gonna break me out by sleeping with,” She looked the woman next to Howard up and down.”The head of the SSR?” She asked rolling her eyes at him. 

 

Jarvis chose that exact moment to walk in.  
“Miss Carter..,” He stopped dead in his tracks, straightening up his back and clasping his hands behind his back.   
“Mister Stark, can I get you anything?” His face as blank as when him and Peggy would pretend to not be talking at the Automat. Gone was the friendly, caring guy that Angie was quite fond of, replaced by what she imagined all butlers to be like, distant, cold, emotionless. 

“You can call a taxi for his date, she won’t be staying.” Peggy answered for Howard.  
“This is still my house Carter.” He started to protest but Peggy fixed him with a harsh glare.

Howard huffed and stomped his foot much like a child would and stalked off towards the liquor cabinet. “Call a taxi,” he grunted as he poured himself a glass of scotch. “You are no fun Peggy.”

Angie turned to Peggy and started buttoning her shirt up.  
“So that’s Howard?” She asked quietly. He was exactly like Peggy had described and he irritated the bloody hell out of her. He was a great friend but most times he acted like a spoiled child rather than the genius he actually was. 

“Yes.” Peggy sighed. She had been doing that a lot lately, Angie noticed.

“Miss Carter, can I please tend to your injuries now?” Jarvis asked once Howard’s date had been picked up. Peggy nodded at the butler and followed him into the kitchen where Howard and George were discussing some invention. Angie had followed them into the kitchen, jumping up on the counter as Peggy and Jarvis sat at the table.

Angie took at all the faces in the room and she wondered if this was how her life would be for now on. Her brother and Howard discussing inventions and women they had bedded, Jarvis cooking for them and bandaging up Peggy when needed, Peggy throwing her life on the line for them without a second thought, then her, helplessly following along trying to save the woman to love.

Peggy looked at Angie and gave her one of her rare smiles that reached her eyes and showed her teeth. Angie knew that no matter where they went from here as long as Peggy smiled at her like that she would be content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you guys think? Should I continue or just trash this fic? Thanks for reading guys, means a lot.


	6. Chapter 6

Angie rolled over in bed, reaching out for Peggy but finding nothing but the cold mattress. She sits up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and looks around the room for any signs of Peggy and coming up empty. She swung her legs to the side of the bed and stretches before standing and reaching for the silk robe Howard had let her borrow. Wrapping the robe around herself tightly, she walked out the room and down the hall quietly, listening for sounds of the agent.

She walked towards the study where she saw Howard and Peggy talking in earlier that night, which had started with them whispering and ending in Howard and Peggy shouting at each other. Howard had stormed off, yelling at Jarvis to make him a drink and bring it to his room but Jarvis was torn between doing as Stark ordered and checking to make sure Peggy was alright. Angie had made it easier for him by checking on Peggy herself.

“Pegs?” She called softly into the room. When she didn’t receive an answer, she turned around and walked towards the stairs. At the top of the stairs, she could hear voices coming from the living room, she recognized her brother’s voice and the English accent she loved so much. She sat down and listened to them talk.

“Do you trust Howard?” George asked drumming his fingers on his knees, much like Angie does.

Peggy sighed for maybe the hundredth time that night.   
“I don’t trust many people in this world, but Howard I trust.”

“Do you trust me?” He asked looking up at her. “No.”  
“I get it, in your line of work trusting the wrong person will get you killed.” 

“No, trusting the wrong person would get Angie killed and if for one second I believe you are putting her in danger I will shoot you without hesitation.” Her voice was cold and harsh as she stared him down. “I have seen a lot of people turn on their family to save their own arses and I will be damned if it happens to Angie.”

“You love her.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.   
“I am very fond of her, yes.”

“No, you love her,” he said again, more firmly this time, staring at her waiting for her to say something.

“I do.” It came out more of a sigh 

“Sergeant, you brought her into this world of government agents, HYDRA, and Leviathan. You better keep her safe and alive.”

He still called her Sergeant no matter how many times she insisted that they were no longer in the Army and to call her Peggy. He went on to saying no one is ever really out of the Army and she was still his superior officer.

“I will do everything in my power to keep her safe George, I give you my word.” She stood and walked the few feet to the couch he was sitting at. She held her hand out and he grasped it firmly. 

“You should try to get some rest George, tomorrow is going to be a long day.” With that she dropped his hands and turned on her heels, heading towards the stairs.

Angie rushed up the stairs as quietly as she could. She didn’t want Peggy to know that she had been eavesdropping on their conversations. She threw the silk robe on the couch in the bedroom and jumped into the bed, rolling away from the door and pretending to be asleep as Peggy slipped into the room and bed silently.

Peggy laid on her back and looked over at Angie. “You know, if you are going to eavesdrop you should learn not to make so much noise when you walk,” she whispered in the dark room. 

Angie rolled over and laid her head on Peggy’s uninjured shoulder, careful not to put too much pressure on her gunshot wound.  
“Well we can’t all be as good as you, Agent Carter.” Angie smiled, wrapping her around gently around Peggy’s stomach. 

Peggy laughed lightly and kissed the top of the waitress’s head. 

They laid in silence for a while, each deep in their own thoughts. Peggy was trying to map out a plan for the next few days. They would need to leave New York as soon as possible but she wasn’t sure where they should go, the SSR had agents all over the Country, no where they went was going to be completely safe. 

Angie was trying to figure out if Peggy had been serious when she told George she would kill him if he got in the way of protecting her.

“Would you really kill my brother?” 

“Yes,” Peggy saw no point in lying to the waitress.

Angie gripped Peggy’s hip tightly, digging her nails in deeply.   
“You can’t just kill people to protect me,” Angie argued.

“I can and I will, right or wrong I will do whatever it takes to protect you.” The fierceness in Peggy’s voice sent shivers down Angie’s spine. The waitress sat up and straddled the agent’s hips.  
Peggy shifted the waitress slightly to make herself more comfortable. Angie gazed into deep brown eyes and smiled, leaning down and brushing her lips against Peggy’s. Peggy smelled of lavender and that tea she always seems to be drinking and Angie thought she never smelled something so heavenly. Angie’s lips were soft against Peggy’s and they moved smoothly against her own. The waitress’s hands tangled in silky brown hair. Peggy grasped the back of Angie’s neck, pulling her in more and deepening the kiss. Peggy parted her lips and ran her tongue along the waitress’s bottom lip, causing Angie to let out a low moan.

They stayed like that most of the night, kissing each other, pulling apart to whisper sweet nothings to each other then kissing again.

 

“Are we there yet?” Howard asked from the front seat of the car for maybe the tenth time since they left the mansion. 

“Howard, shut up,” Peggy groaned from her place in the back seat, her eyes scanning every car they passed. Angie rubbed up and down the agent’s thigh, trying to calm her. 

Howard has done nothing but annoy Peggy since they left and she was seriously thinking about shooting him or stuffing him in the trunk so she didn’t have to listen to him anymore. Sure, they were great friends, they had been since the war but Howard had this way to get on every last nerve Peggy had. 

Howard turned in his seat to look at the waitress then down to the hand on Peggy’s thigh, raising an eyebrow and smirking. 

“So, Angie, how about when we get to whatever boring place Peggy has picked for us to stay the next few days, we find something fun to do.” His voice was low, the one he used when picking up women. 

Peggy’s eyes snapped to him and she glared. “Back off Stark.” 

“Sir,” Jarvis said never taking his eyes off the road as he drove. “I think you should listen to her.”

Howard waved him off and turned his focus back to Angie when Peggy looked away. 

“So what do you say sweetheart?” He reached forward and brushed some hair behind Angie’s ear. The waitress was confused, Howard kept glancing at Peggy and smirking and she was sure this had nothing to do with her, he was just trying to mess with Peggy but from what Peggy had told her, Howard Stark would sleep with anything that moved.   
“I’m sure we can find somewhere to be alone,”hHe purred.

Peggy was fed up with Howard’s suggestions and turned towards him so fast it made Angie jump. The agent gripped his right wrist tightly over the seat, forced him to face forward and brought his arm behind his back, pushing upwards towards his shoulder blades. 

“Are you quite done, Howard?” She asked through gritted teeth. 

“I don’t know Pegs, you’re kinda turning me on.” He laughed then grunted in pain when she pushed his arm up farther.  
“Alright, alright, I’m done.” Peggy dropped his arm and sat back in her seat. “For now,” he said softly causing Peggy to reach up and smack him in the head.

“Are they always like this?” George asked Jarvis, leaning up towards him.   
“Unfortunately they are, Mister Stark enjoys getting Miss Carter fired up.”

 

Peggy looked back out the back windshield, noticing a black Cisitalia 202 that had been following their every turn for the past few minutes. 

“Mr. Jarvis, take the next turn,” Peggy said, never taking her eyes off the car. 

“That’s the wrong way Miss Carter.” 

“Mr. Jarvis please, take the next turn.”

Jarvis took a sharp right turn, causing everyone to slide to one side of the car. Peggy watched a Cisitalia 202 took the same turn. 

“We have a tail.”

“What? How did they even know where we are going?” Howard asked turning in his seat to look at the car. Peggy looked across the back seat to George, who looked at the black car with a small smile. 

“Next turn Jarvis,” Peggy ordered, “How fond of this car are you Howard?”

“Go ahead, I got another one just like it.” 

“Get down.” Peggy said grabbing her Walther PPK from it’s holster, checking to make sure there was a round in the chamber and aimed at the car behind them, firing two shots where the driver should be . Angie jumped when the deafening sound of the gun filled the car, digging her nails into Peggy’s leg. 

The bullets cause the windshield on Cisitalia to crack but didn’t go through.

“Dammit!” Peggy cursed, holstering her gun and turning to Jarvis. “It’s armoured, we have to lose them.”

She climbed over the front seat next to Jarvis.  
“Listen carefully, I need you to move out of the way so I can drive,” She gripped part of the steering wheel.  
“Keep your foot on the gas till I say so then move as quickly as you can towards Howard okay?” She hovered her foot over Jarvis’s.

“Ready?” She asked. He nodded his head yes and wait for the go ahead. “1...2…3, move.”

Jarvis slid under the agent in one swift motion and Peggy took the driver seat. She gripped the steering wheel tighter and hit the gas.

“Hold on,” she said as she swerved sharply into the oncoming lane. 

“You know what makes you better than any male hero, Peggy?” Howard asked as Peggy swerved in and out of traffic. 

The car drove up beside them and Peggy gritted her teeth and slammed into the side of the car then braking hard. Peggy’s head hit the steering wheel and her vision blurred. She blinked a few times to clear her vision then threw the car in reverse, backing up, throwing the car back in drive and taking off in the opposite direction.

“Howard, I do not have time for your games right now,” she said turning down an alley and looking in the rearview mirror, not seeing the Cisitalia. 

“Just listen, what makes you better than any male hero is the fact that you can do anything they can do better and all while wearing heels and a skirt,” Howard continued, “Even Captain America himself couldn’t do half the things you do Pegs.” He smiled over at the agent, one his rare genuine smiles. 

She gave him a small smile then cursed under her breath. Ahead of them the Cisitalia turned down the narrow alley, headed straight for them. Peggy pressed the gas pedal to the floor sending the car lunging forward. 

“Peggy, what are you doing?” Howard asked, gripping his seat tightly. “That is an armoured car, we won’t survive a crash.”

“Miss Carter, we are headed straight for that car,” Jarvis said, voice shaking slightly. 

“English, stop!” Angie shouted, grabbing ahold of her brother’s hand. 

Peggy ignored them, continuing to drive closer to the car. Within 50 feet of the car, she braked suddenly and turned down another alley. Peggy was one of the best tactical drivers the Army and SSR had to offer, trained by Colonel Phillips himself. 

“Don’t do that English,” Angie barked, slapping Peggy in the arm. 

“Would any of you like to drive?”The agent asked, annoyed with their comments.

“Thought so,” she mumbled when they kept quiet and turned onto the street. 

Howard turned in his seat, looking out the back window and searched the street behind them for the black Cisitalia. 

“I think we lo-,” Angie leaned forward and covered Howard’s mouth with her hand.   
“Shut up, the second you say that the car is going to be right behind us,” she said as Peggy took a hard left, sending her sliding towards her brother. 

“We need to get rid of this car.” Peggy said looking over at Howard. “And we need weapons.” 

“I have a place in Long Island that has everything we need.” 

Peggy turned the car around and headed towards Long Island.


	7. Chapter 7

“How many places do you have Stark?” Angie asked as she and Howard walked through the front door of mansion. Peggy, Jarvis, and George were outside, transferring their stuff from one car to another.

“I can’t remember,” Howard answered walking off towards the study for a drink. 

Angie followed after him, sitting down in a plush leather chair as he poured himself a drink.  
“Drink?” He asked holding up a bottle of scotch. She nodded her head yes.  
She really liked Howard, of course he hit on her too much and annoyed the hell out of Peggy, but he was funny and could be sweet at times.  
“How do you not know how many places you own?”

He shrugged and sat across from her, handing her the glass.   
“I just lost count after the first ten.” 

Angie took a sip of the scotch, grimacing as it burned it’s way down her throat. 

“Why buy all these places if you don’t need them or use them?” 

Howard leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the coffee table. “I use them to hold my inventions.” He takes a sip of his drink and sighs, “Some of my inventions aren’t really safe, so I hide them away in my houses.”

“But didn’t someone break into one of them and steal your inventions?”

“Yes well, that will not happen again, besides I got Peggy working on that,” he said, downing his drink and getting up to pour another one. 

“Why do you make things that are so dangerous?” Angie asked.

Howard looked over at her and downed his second drink, then poured himself another one.   
“I don’t mean for them to be so dangerous, I swear they never start out that way it just happens.” He sat down on the coffee table in front of the waitress. 

“I know all I have done my whole life is create destruction, I have harmed far more people than I have helped but,” He looked down at his hands then looked back at Angie with sad, regretful eyes. “Project Rebirth was…. Steve was the one thing I have done that brought good into this world.” 

“You care for him, like Peggy does.” Angie stated. Howard nodded his head and reached for Angie’s drink, downing his drink then hers in quick succession. A single tear fell from his eye and he scrubbed at it with the back of his hand.

“Can you keep a secret?”He asked and Angie nodded her head yes.   
“From Peggy?”

Could she really keep a secret from Peggy? After she had yelled at the agent for keeping secrets from her, after the agent had poured her heart and soul out to her just the day before? It wouldn’t be fair to Peggy. Howard was looking at her, his eyes pleading her to say yes. Finally she nodded her head yes.

“I have been looking for Steve for months and I think I’m close to finding him,” Howard said, “And I think once I find him I could bring him back, if he was frozen, I can bring him back.”

Angie just stared at Howard, her mind reeling. How could that even be possible? How could Howard bring someone back from the dead? Though, Angie supposed if anyone could do it, it would be the man who created a super soldier out of a skinny man from Brooklyn and created a device that results in a concussive blast, followed by a vacuum implosion. 

“Why haven’t you told Peggy?” 

“I don’t want to give her false hope,” He answered, “Losing Steve almost destroyed her and I could not bare giving her hope that I could bring him back just to rip it away if I cannot do it. She deserves to be happy.”

“You are a good man Howard, despite the things you have done, you are a good man,” Angie said, placing her hand over Howard’s. 

“You are a lot like him, you see the good in everyone despite all the bad they have done.” Howard smiled at her, placing his other hand over her’s. While Steve and Angie were different in many ways, they had the same heart, they were both fiercely loyal and both would do everything in their power to protect the ones they loved. 

“I don’t see how I am anything like Captain America, he was a hero and I am just a waitress.”

“You’re more than just a waitress Angie,” Peggy said from where she was leaning against the door frame to the study. She smiled over at the waitress and made her way into the room. 

“We’ll be staying here for the night and leaving first thing in the morning, Jarvis and George went to get something to eat.” Peggy spoke, grabbing the two empty glasses from the coffee table and walked over to the liquor cabinet. She filled the two glasses up and then one for herself.

“So, what were you two talking about?” She asked, handing Angie and Howard their drinks and taking a seat on the couch.

“I was telling Angie here she has the same devilish good looks as Steve,” Howard answered with a wink to Angie, who blushed a bright red. 

Howard moved from his spot of the coffee table and sat down on the other end of the couch, throwing his legs over Peggy’s. Peggy rolled her eyes and pushed his legs off of her.   
“I am not a footstool, Howard.”

“Awww, come one Pegs, I have had a long day,” he whined putting his legs back on her.

“You’ve had a long day?” She asked, pushing him off her again. “I did not know that annoying the bloody hell out of me was so much work.”

Angie watched them with an amused smile as the bickered back and forth. She noted that as the two continued to bicker, Peggy started to relax more and more, her shoulders weren’t a tense as they had been the past few days, her eyes weren’t darting all around the room as if she expected something to jump out at them. Even with Howard irritating her, Peggy was at ease.

“Have you two ever,” Angie motioned between the two on the couch, “Dated?”

Peggy remembered Steve asking her the same thing once upon a time, after he had kissed some blonde and after she had unloaded an entire pistol clip at him. She remembered the hurt she felt as she watched the man she loved kiss another woman, she remembered the betrayal she felt as if it had happened yesterday. 

“I have tried, many times but Pegs, she’s too good for me and besides I could not compete with Cap.” It was left unsaid that they both loved Steve too much to actually try to date. They had made jokes about it, kissed in a haze of booze and grief after Steve had died but that was as far as it went. They both knew nothing good would come of dating when they were both still so in love with Steve Rogers. 

Angie wondered what would happen if Howard was actually able to bring Steve back. Would Peggy just forget about her and go running back to Steve? Would she have to compete with Steve for Peggy’s love? There was no way that she could ever go against Steve Rogers and win, he was Captain America, he was a hero and he could protect Peggy and she was just a waitress, a failed actress, she was no one compared to Steve. 

As if sensing what she was thinking, Howard stated with a wink, “But you Angie, you would give Cap a run for his money.”

Peggy gave Howard a grateful smile and stood from the couch, reaching her hand out to the waitress. “Help me change my bandages?”

Angie nodded and allowed the agent to lift her from her seat. Peggy laced their fingers together and led her towards the stairs.

“I’ll just stay here and drink by myself then,” Howard called after them, grabbing Peggy’s discarded drink from the table. 

Peggy sighed at the bottom of the stairs and calls out to Howard. “Come on Stark, you can sit with us.”

Howard grinned and jumped up from his seat, grabbing the bottle of scotch and then followed them up the stairs to the master bedroom. Peggy sat down on the edge of the bed next to an open dufflebag full of medical supplies. Angie stood between Peggy’s legs and helped the agent remove her blazer. Howard threw himself onto the bed and propped himself up with a pillow beside Peggy. 

Angie searched the dufflebag for a roll of gauze, adhesive bandages, a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a small pair of scissors, a washcloth and a pair of gloves. She handed the stuff to Howard, who sat up slightly and placed the bottle of scotch on the floor beside the bed. Angie pulled one glove on then the other and reached forward to unbutton Peggy’s shirt.

Angie slipped the shirt over Peggy’s shoulder and down her arms, revealing her bruised torso.   
“Damn Pegs, who the hell got a hold of you?” Howard asked.

“She says a highly trained assassin but she got her ass kicked by one of the girls from the Griffith.” Angie said with a teasing smile to the agent. Peggy rolled her eyes at the waitress and scooped up the scotch from the floor, taking a long drink from it. 

Angie carefully pulled the bandage from Peggy’s right shoulder and dropped it to the floor. Howard handed her the washcloth and the peroxide. The waitress placed the washcloth just under the cut and poured some of the peroxide on the cut. She wiped the cut then held her hand out for a bandage and Howard handed one to her. They worked like that in silence, Angie cleaning the wounds and Howard handing her the things she needed. Before long they were done and Angie was helping Peggy dress once more. 

“So Pegs, ready to check out the weapons in the basement?” Howard asked standing from the bed and picking up the scotch. Peggy nodded her head and stood as well. Howard walked out of the room and down the hall.

“Coming?” She asked the waitress.   
Angie shook her head no and motioned the old bandages on the floor. “I’m just gonna clean up, you two go ahead.”

Peggy grabbed her Walther PPK from the nightstand and gave it to Angie. “Do you know how to use one of these?”  
“Point and shoot,” Angie said with a shrug of her shoulders. Peggy laughed and shook her head, coming to stand behind the waitress. Peggy placed both of her hands over the waitress’s. She brought their hands up and aimed the pistol at the wall. 

“Pull the trigger,” she said softly in the waitress’s ear, her breath hitting the waitress’s neck, sending a shiver down Angie’s spine. Anige placed her pointer finger on the trigger and pressed down. Click. 

“You have to take the safety off first, otherwise it won’t shoot.” The agent moved Angie’s finger to the safety.   
“Shoot anyone who comes up here that is not me, Stark, Jarvis or your brother.” The agent dropped her hands from Angie’s and moved them to grip her hips, kissing along the back off Angie’s neck. 

“Mmmmm, don’t start something you’re not gonna finish English.” 

“Mmmm, you’re right,” Peggy said, dropping her hands and stepping back from the waitress. “I will be back up in a little while.”

Peggy left Angie standing in the bedroom, gripping the Walther PPK tightly. Angie sighed and threw the pistol on the bed and went to clean up the bandages and supplies. Once that was done she gathered a robe from the closet and the pistol then headed into the bathroom for a bath. 

15 minutes later..

Anige heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall towards the bedroom. She sat up in the tub and grabbed the pistol from the floor.  
“Peggy? is that you?” Angie called out, gripping the gun tightly in her shaky hands. She raised the pistol towards the door as the footsteps got louder. Her heart pounded hard in her chest and a tremor of fear crept through her.  
“English if you are trying to scare me it’s not going to work.” 

The footsteps were just outside the bathroom door. Angie could see a shadow under the door. 

“Peggy?” Angie called out one more time. Seconds later the bathroom door busted open and a man stepped in. Angie pulled the trigger on the pistol. Click. Click. Click.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at you guys, getting another chapter so soon. Hope you guys enjoy. Have a great weekend.

Peggy and Howard made their way down to the basement, stopping at giant vault door with a keypad and a fingerprint scanner. 

“If only those kept people from stealing your inventions,” Peggy teased as Howard unlocked the vault and stepped inside.   
This vault was much smaller than the last one and three of the walls were lined with shelves. Each shelf had a variety of inventions on them. On the back wall was a large map on the word, next to that was a picture of Steve and his first shield and his first suit, when he was nothing more than a pawn to get people to buy war bonds. 

Peggy walked over to the shield and ran her fingers along it. It was scratched, dirty and had little dents all over it. “He look quite ridiculous in that thing, didn’t he?” The agent asked motioning to the suit 

Howard laughed and shook his head, coming to stand next to the burnette. “He did and the way he pranced around on stage completely ridiculous.”

Peggy smiled softly and walked away from the wall over to a shelf filled with different types of guns. She picked up an M1 Carbine, turning it over in her hands inspecting it. 

“I have armour piercing rounds for every gun except the Walther PPk and the Ithaca 37.” Howard said grabbing a baton for one of the shelves. “I made this for you some time ago.” 

Peggy took the baton from him and twirled it in her hand, feeling the weight of it, swinging it out in front of her.

“Press that button there.” Howard pointed to a little red button near the handle of the baton. The agent pressed the button and a loud crackling sound came from the tip of the baton along with a white glowing light that look like lightning. 

“It send electric pulses that locks the muscles of whoever you hit with it, you can completely incapacitate someone in seconds,” Howard said with excitement, waving his hands around in the air. “Or you can just beat them with it.” 

The agent sat the baton down on the table in the middle of the room along with the M1 Carbine, some rounds for it and her Walther PPK. 

“What else do you got?” She asked grabbing a duffel bag from a shelf, placing it on the table as well. Howard went to a shelf by the vault door and grabbed a what looked like an umbrella then threw it across the room to Peggy. 

“Great an umbrella, just what I needed.”

“It’s not just an umbrella, the handle have a knife in it and it can take the weight of a full grown man, you can take it with you anywhere, no one will think it is a weapon,” Howard said as he picked up a small round grenade and tossed it to the Agent. 

Peggy quickly dropped the umbrella to catch the grenade before it hit the ground. “Howard!” She shouted. 

“Don’t worry Pegs, it’s not live,” Howard said taking it from her hands and showing her a tiny red button on the grenade. “When it’s activated it sticks to whatever you throw it at.” Howard placed the grenade in the duffle bag along with the rest of the ones of the shelf. 

“What’s with the lamp?” Peggy questioned pointing to a table lamp that was sitting on the floor by the door.

“It is a lamp that turns on when you clap.” Howard clapped his hands loudly and a few seconds later the lamp comes on then explodes. Peggy grabbed Howard and shoved him to the ground and covered her head with her hands as glass shattered around the room from the explosion. 

“It’s still a work in progress,’ he stated, standing up and brushing his suit off. 

“Obviously,” Peggy said rolling her eyes at the man. 

Howard grabbed some black vest from a shelf and placed it in the duffel bag. “New and improved bullet proof vest made from Kevlar, it’s a lightweight, stronger than steel fiber that can stop almost any bullet.” Howard moved away from the table and over to a shelf at the back of the room. He grabbed a couple of different items and walked back towards the table.

A blood curdling scream from upstairs startled Howard causing him to drop the things he was holding. “What was that?” He asked looking to the agent. Peggy grabbed the closest gun to her and took off out of the vault and up the stairs towards the screaming. 

Shotgun pointed out in front of her, Peggy took the corners fast, barely checking to see if anyone was there. Howard followed behind her with a pistol in his hands. The screaming died down and it was dead quiet other than the sound of the agent’s and Howard’s foot steps.

The agent climbed up the stairs as fast as she could, trying to calm the beating of her heart. At the top of the stairs, she looked left then right before stepping onto the second floor. She moved quickly down the hall towards the master bedroom where she had left Angie. She opened each door she passed, quickly scanning the rooms for anyone before moving on. 

The agent and Howard stopped in front of the closed door to the master bedroom. Peggy did a series of hand signals that left Howard staring at her clearly confused. 

“I don’t know what those mean,” he whispered. The agent rolled her eyes and suppressed a sigh.

“On my count I want you to kick the door in, I will go in first you go in right after me, train your sights on the targets but do not shoot, unless I say.” Peggy whispered back, holding up three fingers and slowly, one by one put them down.

Howard kicked the door in and stepped back and out of the way. Peggy rushed in, shotgun searching every corner of the room before landing on a tall man with long brown hair, a mask covering half his face and a bionic arm that was wrapped tightly around Angie. 

“Peggy! You have to go, he wants you not me.” Angie shouted, her eyes wide with panic. The man’s grip tightened on Angie as he stared the agent down. 

“Let her go,” Peggy demanded, gun trained on his head. She could not shoot him, they both knew it. If she fired even just one shoot at him Angie would be hit in the process. The agent cursed herself for grabbing the shotgun instead of a pistol 

Both the agent and the man stared at each other, eyes unblinking for several moments. There was something familiar about this man’s brown eyes but Peggy couldn’t place it. She felt like she knew this man but she definitely would have remembered meeting someone with a metal arm.

“ Брось пистолет,” He spoke in a rusty Russian accent. “ Брось пистолет,или я убью ее.” 

Peggy sorted through what she knew of the Russian language and nodded to the man once she understood what he had said. 

“Put the gun down Howard,”Peggy ordered, placing her shotgun at her feet and kicking it behind her. “Now Howard.”

Howard hesitated, keeping the pistol pointed at the man’s head. “Pegs, I don’t think that is a good idea.” 

“Drop the gun NOW!” The man shouted at Howard, pulling a knife from his pocket and placing it to Angie’s throat. The waitress whimpered as the knife dug into her flesh, drawing blood. 

“Now Howard!” Peggy cried out. 

“Okay, okay,” Howard said placing the pistol on the ground in front of him. The man motioned with his knife for Howard to kick the gun away. Howard kicked the pistol across the room towards Angie and her captor. 

“Let her go.” Peggy demanded again, her voice stern. She took a step closer to them and the man dug the knife in harder. Peggy raised her hands up slightly. 

“Please let her go, please,” Peggy begged, “You can take me just let her go.”  
Peggy Carter had only ever begged three times in her life. The first time was when she begged Steve not to crash the plane, begged him to give her time to figure out how to save him. The second time she begged was just days ago, when she begged Angie to leave with George and Jarvis. And now was the third time she begged. Each time she begged was to save someone she loved.

“Take me!” The agent yelled but the man just stared at her, his grip on Angie tightening. 

“Howard,” Peggy whispered, her lips barely moving. “As soon as Angie is free from him, you get her out of her.”  
Howard nodded.

Peggy charged at Angie and her captor. The man threw Angie to the side and grabbed Peggy by her throat with his metal arm. Howard rushed forward and grabbed Angie pulling her towards the door.

Peggy grasped at the hand around her neck, trying to pry it away. Her red, chipped nails clawed at the metal arm as she gasped for air, trying to fill her burning lungs. Her eyes grew wide and unfocused and panic settled in her chest. She was losing consciousness fast and knew if she didn’t do something quick she would die. 

“Let me go,” Angie said, kicking Howard in the groin and moving to pick up his discarded pistol.   
She gripped the pistol tightly in both hands and pointed it at the man’s head, making sure to turn the safety off this time. 

“You’re killing her stop!” Angie cried out. The man looked away from Peggy to the waitress.

“она моя миссия” He spoke softly to the waitress but she just shook her head at him, she didn’t understand. “She is my mission.” He said, his voice filled with something like remorse.

Peggy reached for the knife she kept on her person while the man was distracted with Angie. She clasped the handle in her hands and brought it up, stabbing the man in the neck as hard as she could. 

The man let go of Peggy and staggered back, holding his hand to his neck then jumped out of the window. Howard took the pistol from Angie and ran to the window, shooting at the man’s retreating figure. 

Peggy kneeled on the floor, coughing as she tried to pull air into her burning lungs. Angie was at her side at once, rubbing her back. 

“You’re okay English, you’re okay.” 

“Are you okay?” Peggy choked out, looking at the cut on the waitress’s neck, that was still bleeding a bit. Angie’s hand came up to touch the cut, pulling her hand away to see some blood on her fingers. 

She shrugged, “I’m okay.”

Howard stepped away from the window, looking to the agent and waitress.   
“He got away Pegs, I don’t think I hit him.”

“Howard,” Peggy called out, wincing from the pain in her throat and how hoarse her voice sounded. Howard kneeled down in front of the agent. Peggy gripped his shirt tightly in both hands. 

“They made a super soldier Howard,” the agent said, her voice filled despair, “HYRDA created a super soldier.”

All the work they did, that Steve did, to stop HYRDA had been for nothing. They were back and possibly stronger than ever. 

“We have to stop them Howard,” Peggy said desperately, her eyes fluttering close, she collapsed against him. Angie gave Howard a worried look. 

“She’ll be okay, we just need to let her rest,” Howard said picking the agent up bridal style. “Get the guns and the first aid.”

Angie did as he said then followed him out of the room and down the hall to another room. Howard kicked the door open, walking over to the king size bed in the middle of the room. He laid Peggy down and took her shoes off. 

“Sit,” Howard said motioning to the bed, “Let me put a bandage on that.” He took the duffel bag of first aid supplies from the waitress and dug through it for a bandage. 

“Thank you,” Angie said once he was finished. Howard picked the shotgun up off the bed and handed it to the waitress.

“Stay with her, protect her while she rests, I’ll be downstairs making sure no one else gets in,” Howard said picking up the pistol and walking towards the door. 

Angie called out to the billionaire, “Howard, things are going to get pretty bad aren’t they?” 

Howard nodded solemnly, “Things are going to get worse before they get better.”

Howard walked back over to the bed and sat down. “The SSR is after us, Leviathan want to kill Peggy and take my inventions, HYRDA wants to kill Peggy and do God knows what else,” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “We need to go deep underground but we need to stop HYRDA and Leviathan.”

“We can do it though right?” Angie asked.   
“I don’t know, you, Jarvis, and I aren’t exactly soldiers.”

“Peggy and George can train us, they can turn us into soldiers.” Angie looked over to the sleeping agent then back to Howard. “We can’t let Steve’s sacrifice be in vain Howard, we have to stop them.” 

“We’ll stop them,” Howard promised.


	9. Chapter 9

Angie had fallen asleep in the plush chair and was woken by the sound of whimpering coming from the bed. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She blinked a couple of times till her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She looked over to the bed to see Peggy fidgeting in her sleep, whimpering and mumbling every few seconds. 

The waitress placed the shotgun on the ground and stood, shuffling over to the bed. She climbed in next to the agent, placing her hand on Peggy’s shoulder and shaking her softly. 

“Peggy, wake up.” 

The agent thrashed her head side to side and mumbled, “Angie….”

Angie shook the agent a little harder. “Sweetie, it’s just a dream, wake up.” Angie pushed messy curls from the agent’s sweaty forehead. Peggy’s eyebrows furrowed and she frowned deeply, mumbling something Angie didn’t quite catch.

“Come on Pegs, wake up.” The waitress grasped the agent’s shoulders and shook her again. Suddenly the agent bolted upright and pinned Angie to the bed by her throat. Her eyes were hazy and unfocused as she stared down at Angie, she spoke rapidly in a language that Angie didn’t understand. Her face was dark and threatening, her hand squeezed the waitress’s throat harder, whatever she was saying, she was angry and Angie was terrified.

“English, wake up,” Angie choked out, struggling to breathe. 

The agent blinked a few times and her eyes cleared, taking in the waitress’s terrified face, wide fearful blue eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. The agent threw herself back off the bed, hitting the floor with a loud thud and scooted back against the far wall as far from Angie as possible.

Angie drew in a shaky breath, wiping away her tears and sat up slowly, looking for the agent. She spotted Peggy on the other side of the room, with her head in her hands, rocking back and forth as sobs wracked her body. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Peggy choked out between sobs.

The bedroom door opened and the lights were turned on revealing Jarvis holding an iron as a weapon, Howard holding an umbrella and George armed with a pistol. If her agent wasn’t sobbing in the corner, Angie would have made a joke about Jarvis’s and Howard’s choice of weapons. 

“Is everything alright?” Howard asked his eyes landing on the brunette on the floor. He looked over at the waitress and went to step in the room but Angie shook her head no. 

“Everything is fine,” Angie answered, “Go back downstairs.” 

“But Miss Martinelli,” Jarvis started to say but Angie cut him off with a sharp look. Jarvis nodded his head in understanding and pushed Howard and George out of the room, closing the door behind them. 

Angie stood up from the bed and made her way to the older woman. 

“Stay back, I..I don’t want to hurt you.” Peggy said between sobs, trying to control her tears. She wrapped her arms around her knees, avoiding looking at the waitress. She was ashamed of having hurt the younger woman, even if she wasn’t in full control of her actions at the time. 

“Stay back,” she whispered this time, sounding so ashamed, so self loathing, so guilty that it broke Angie’s heart. The normally well put together woman continued to rock herself back and forth, looking so small and so broken and it destroyed Angie.

“Honey, it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to,” Angie said gently. “It wasn’t really you Peggy.”

“It was me, I could have killed you.”

“I’m fine Peggy.”

“This time,” Peggy whispered, “What if it happens again and I don’t come to till it’s too late?” 

Angie sighed and sat down on the floor across from the brunette. “You know, when George got back from the war, he was pretty messed up, he had dreams like that, had hurt his wife a few times during them but most of the time she was able to calm him down.”

The agent continued to look at everything but the waitress. Angie moved a little closer to the agent, expecting her to tell her to stay back again. When Peggy didn’t say anything, Angie moved till she was sitting next to her. 

“She eventually left him though, said he was too damaged or something like that”   
Angie had stayed with George after his wife had left, she helped him through the nightmares, helped him get back to his old self. She knew she could help Peggy, if Peggy let her. 

“Is this suppose to make me feel better?” Peggy asked quietly, interrupting the waitress. “Am I too damaged for you?” Her voice was so broken, so vulnerable.

“Everyone is damaged English, in some way or another,” Angie said, drawing random patterns on the agent’s back with her finger. 

“You didn’t answer my question, am I too damaged for you?”

Angie grasped the agent’s chin gently, turning Peggy to face her, ducking her head slightly to catch brown eyes. 

“Listen to me Margaret Carter, you are not, nor will you ever be too damaged for me, I am in this with you for the long run, I’m not going to leave just because the going gets tough,” she leaned forward and kissed the agent softly. “I love you Pegs, I can help you through this, I helped George.”

“Let me help my best girl,” Angie whispered, placing gentle kisses along the skin she could reach. 

Angie knew stopping HYRDA and Leviathan was their top priority, more so now that there was a super soldier on the loose but that doesn’t mean Peggy’s mental health should take a back seat to all that. If Peggy wouldn’t take care of herself then Angie would take care of her.

“How often does it happen?” Angie asked, running her fingers through Peggy’s tangled curls. 

“Not very often,” Peggy answered as the waitress continued to run her fingers through the agent’s hair. “I used to have them a lot after Steve but they are quite rare now, I only have them when I am under incredible stress.”

“Do you want to talk about the dream?” Angie asked, massaging the agent’s scalp. Peggy sighed and leaned into the waitress’s touch, shaking her head no. 

“I just want to try to sleep.”

“Okay,” Angie said, standing up and offering her hand to the agent. Peggy took her hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Angie pulled her to the bed, stopping to pull the covers down. She climbed onto the bed, laying down on her back, she opened her arms for Peggy. The agent climbed in after her, laying her head over the waitress’s heart. 

Peggy breathed in deeply, letting the sound of Angie’s beating heart relax her as the waitress’s runs her fingers through her hair. Peggy sighed contently, closing her eyes and lace her fingers with Angie’s free hand.   
“Goodnight, my dear.”  
“G’night English.” 

 

Jarvis walked down the stair the next morning, fixing his tie as he went. He had gotten up early to fix breakfast for everyone before their long drive out of the city. He made his way to the kitchen, stopping in the doorway when he saw Miss Martinelli and Miss Carter. He stayed at the door and watched them for a few moments. 

He knew it was wrong to spy on their private moment but he needed to make sure that they were alright after last night and he knew if he asked it would be met with “I’m fine,” and “No need to worry about me, Mr. Fancy.” He needed to see with his own eyes that they were okay. He had come to care for the two women as if they were his family and he guessed in a way they were his family now. 

Angie picked up a small thing of face powder from the counter and moved to stand in front of Peggy, who was sitting at the small table in the corner of the kitchen. 

“Look up,” Angie ordered the brunette. The agent did as she was told and lifted her head, exposing her bruised neck to the waitress. 

Mister Stark had told him and Mister Martinelli what had happened last night, that a man, a super soldier had held Miss Martinelli at knife point and that Miss Carter had charged at the soldier only to be choked. 

Jarvis fought the urge to enter the room and assess Miss Carter’s injuries. She didn’t need him to take care of her, she had the waitress. 

Angie gently started to apply the face powder to Peggy’s bruises. “You were stupid and reckless,” she said quietly. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Don’t play dumb with me English, you were reckless and you know it.”

“What was I supposed to do? Let him kill you?” The agent asked looking up at the waitress. 

“He wasn’t going to hurt me.”

“But he did hurt you,” Peggy said reaching up and running her fingers gently over the white bandage covering the cut on Angie’s neck. 

“He wasn’t going to kill me Peggy, he wanted to kill you and you went and handed yourself right to him.” Anger lined her word as she spoke. “It was so damn reckless Peggy.” Her voice had softened but Peggy knew she was still upset and she had every right to be, Peggy knew that but she wouldn’t take back what she did, she would do anything to keep Angie safe even give her life.

“I told you once before my love for you Angie, it makes me do foolish things.” She reached up and cupped the waitress’s cheek, looking into those bright blue eyes that she loved so much. She leaned up to kiss the waitress but Jarvis cleared his throat and entered the room.

Angie sighed and shook her head. It seemed that someone was always interrupting them lately. Peggy gave the waitress a small smile and leaned up to kiss her cheek. She sat back down and allowed Angie to finish covering up her bruises.

“Sorry to interrupt, I came down to get started on breakfast.” Jarvis said moving to start some coffee, stopping once he noticed it had already been made.   
He grabbed three cups from the cabinet, pouring some coffee into each one, adding sugar and cream to one for the waitress. He placed the agent’s and waitress’s cups on the table and moved to the fridge to pull out the things he needed to make breakfast. 

“It’s quite alright Mr. Jarvis.” 

“How are you feeling Miss Carter?” Jarvis asked looking over his shoulder at the agent. He was referring to the incident he had walked in on last night. He couldn’t get rid of the image of Peggy crying in the corner last night. Peggy’s body tensed and her eyes hardened. She remember him walking in on her crying and she knew that eventually one of the three men would ask why she had been crying. 

Jarvis turned around fully to face the two women and motioned to the woman’s neck, watching Peggy’s body relaxed. He knew she wouldn’t speak of what happened. Jarvis’s green eyes bored into blue ones, silently asking the waitress if Peggy was okay. “I’m dealing with it.” Angie mouthed to the butler and he gave her a stiff nod.

“Oh, I’m fine, just a couple more bruises.” 

It was silent in the kitchen as Jarvis made breakfast and Angie finish applying makeup to Peggy’s bruises. Then Howard and George came down the stairs in a heated argument about some car.

“Good morning,” Howard said cheerfully to the room as Jarvis handed him a cup of coffee. 

George smiled a thank you to Jarvis as he was handed a coffee. He walked over to his sister and kissed the top of her head, flashing Peggy a small smile before sitting at the table. Howard took a seat as well and looked over the agent. 

“I made some calls about our super soldier,” Howard stated as he sipped his coffee.

“Who did you call?” Peggy asked, watching Howard turn serious. 

“Dugan, it seems he has gather quite a bit of information since your trip to Belarus.” He took another sip of his coffee and grabbed a piece of bacon Jarvis sat on the table, taking a bite. “Like Leviathan, is just a side project for HYDRA with the intent to steal all my inventions and kill or capture me,” he said through a mouthful of food. 

“What about the soldier, Howard?” The agent asked growing impatient. 

“I was getting to that,” he said taking another bite of bacon. “They call him the Winter Soldier and he is HYDRA’s top assassin, he is relentless, he has never failed a mission and Pegs, Dugan said to be careful, that he’s never seen anything like this man and that there is no way that you can take him on alone.” 

“Well, I don’t have any choice but to take him on alone,” Peggy said after a few minutes of silence.

“The hell you do English, you have us,” Angie shouted at the agent, standing with her hands on her hips and staring down at the burnette. “Train us Peggy, teach us to fight so we can help you stop him.” She kneeled down in front of the agent, looking up into dark brown eyes with specks of gold in them. Peggy just shook her head no.

“I get it, we ain’t no Howling Commandos and we ain’t no Captain America but we’re all you got right now Pegs, we could be your team, just give us a chance,” Angie said softly, taking Peggy’s hand in her own. “Let us help, we’re in this together.” 

Peggy sighed deeply and looked around at the people in the room. Jarvis had stopped cooking and was giving her a encouraging smile. “We are in this together Miss Carter”

She looked to George, who was looking at his sister. “They would be able to protect themselves if we weren’t around,” he said looking over to Peggy. 

She looked to Howard and he grinned at her. “We are with you till the end of line, Pegs.”   
She looked back to Angie. “We can do this, we can stop HYDRA together,” Angie said.

“Okay,” Peggy finally said, “I’ll train you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and commenting guys, it means a lot. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It might take a little longer for the next chapter to be posted, i'm stuck in the middle of writing chapter 13 and I want to finish it before I post anything else, I like to stay a couple chapters ahead. Anyways, thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great weekend.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to post, chapter 13 was giving me a hard time. There is some smut in here toward the end, so let me know if it's good, if you want to see more of it, or if I should never attempt smut again. Thank you guys for sticking with me and this story it means a lot.

Angie held a Colt model 1911 in her hands tightly. The metal was cool in her hands and heavy, a lot heavier than the Walther PPK that Peggy carried around. She raised the pistol at the target across the room, squared her shoulders and pulled the trigger three times. All three shots missed the target.

Angie sighed and loaded a new magazine into the pistol. She had been at this for thirty minutes and has yet to hit the target once.   
And being the older brother that he was, George teased her from across the large basement. 

“You know you are suppose to hit the target right?” He asked with a teasing smile which quickly turn to a into a hateful one as he watched Peggy walk over to the waitress. He schooled his features quickly, looking around the room to see if anyone had caught it. Satisfied that no one saw, he went back to cleaning a rifle. 

Jarvis watched George from his spot beside Howard, making a mental note to talk with Miss Carter about the other Martinelli.

Angie flipped him off and looked down at the pistol in her hands, running her fingers over the slick barrel. She sighed and pulled the slide back, cocking the gun, just like Peggy had taught her.

A warm body pressed against her back, red lips pressed a kiss just behind her ear as arms wrapped around her waist. 

“You need to relax, you’re too tense,” Peggy whispered in her ear, her lips ghosting over the waitress’s ear. She brought her arms up to Angie’s, loosening her fingers on the grip of the pistol. 

“You’re holding it too tightly, you’re thinking too much.” She spoke softly in Angie’s ear as she lifted their arms up till the gun pointed at the target. “Think of something that calms you, something that makes you feel light, breathe out slowly then pull the trigger.” 

Peggy kissed her neck gently then stepped back. “Go ahead, give it a try.” 

Angie did as Peggy said. She cleared her mind of everything but the memory of Peggy telling her she loved her, whispered in between kisses after Peggy had returned from Russia. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly through her nose and then pulled the trigger seven times. 

The shots rang out through the entire basement as they made contact with the metal target causing Howard and Jarvis to look up from the invention they were working on. 

Angie turned to Peggy with a beaming smile, she placed the pistol on the table next to her and threw her arms around the agent’s shoulder. “I did it!” 

Peggy smiled at the waitress, one of her rare proud smiles that sent Angie’s heart racing in her chest. Peggy was proud of her and what could be better than that?

Peggy kissed the waitress deeply before pulling away and picking up the pistol from the table, loading a new magazine into and handing it back to Angie. “Now do it again.”

And so Angie did for another half hour. Every time she empty a magazine into the target, clearing her mind of everything except for different memories with Peggy. The agent would load a fresh one into the pistol and hand it back to Angie.

Jarvis had pulled them away from the shooting range when it was time for lunch. He practically had to drag them away from it and Angie had pouted the whole way. 

“I was just getting good Mr. Fancy,” Angie whined as she sat down at the kitchen table, arms crossed and a pout firmly in place. Jarvis rolled his eyes at the waitress and sat a plate of perfectly grilled hamburgers down in front of her. 

They all ate in silence except for the occasional compliment to Jarvis on the burgers. George and Howard cleared the table, putting the dishes in the dishwasher that Howard had beefed up then ran off to one of the many studies to do God knows what. 

Jarvis waited till he could no longer hear their footsteps before pulling the dishes out of dishwasher. “Last time I used that thing it caught fire.” 

“Of course it did,” Peggy said with a shake of her head. Leave it to Howard to take something as simple as a dishwasher and make it dangerous. 

“So Pegs, when are you going to teach me to knock someone out?” Angie asked as she washed the plate she was holding, passing it to the agent so she could rinse and dry before handing it to Jarvis to put it away.

It had been a week since Peggy had agreed to train the group and so far they had only worked on marksmanship and Angie was itching to start working on hand to hand combat. Mainly because she wanted to knock Howard around when he got too handsy with her or annoyed Peggy. 

In that week, they had fled to Boston under the cover of night, to one of Howard’s many places, much to Peggy’s dismay. Peggy wanted to find a rundown, easily overlooked place to stay instead of Stark’s mansion where anyone could easily find them but this was the only place with the equipment they needed to train.

Most of Peggy’s wounds had healed except for the gash on her leg and the gunshot on her side. She hadn’t had another episode in the middle of the night but Angie figured that was because the Englishwoman didn’t sleep more than two hours a night. They would go to bed together but Angie would wake in the middle of the night to an empty bed and she would find Peggy stalking the halls, checking in on everyone and securing the doors. 

Angie worried about the agent even though Peggy reassured her that she was alright and she could run on little to no sleep, but that did little to stop her worrying. 

Peggy shook her head and laughed lightly at the waitress’s eagerness to learn. “Soon Dear.”

Things had been quiet the past week. No SSR agents had came after them, no armoured black cars had followed them to Boston, no HYDRA operatives had come after them. There was no signs of Dottie or The Winter Soldier and in all honesty that scared Peggy. If they weren’t attacking then that meant they were planning and Peggy prayed to a God she didn’t really believe in that they were ready for whatever the SSR and HYRDA had planned. 

“How soon English?” Angie asked drying her hands on a towel Jarvis handed her. “Shooting is fun and all but I want to punch something.”

“Something or someone?” The agent asked with a raised eyebrow. 

Angie gave her an innocent smile, brushing a stray curl behind Peggy’s ear. “I have no idea what you are talking about English.” 

“If I show you a few moves now, will you be happy?” Peggy asked. Angie nodded her head enthusiastically and grinned at the agent. 

“Howard!” Peggy called out.

“Upstairs!” Howard yelled back. 

Peggy took Angie’s hand in her own and walked to the stairs with Jarvis following behind them.

“Miss Carter, don’t hurt him too bad,” Jarvis requested as they made their way to the upstairs study. “You know how whiny he gets when he is hurt.” 

“Just a few basic moves Mr. Jarvis.” Peggy smirked, dropping Angie’s hand when she walked into the study.

Howard looked up at her from his place at the desk in the middle of the room, his face paling upon seeing her smirk. He knew that smirk, it usually followed with Peggy doing something to him that would end up with him being injured.   
“Whatever it is, no,” he stated going back to working on the diagram in front of him. 

“Come on Howard, I won’t hurt you.” She smiled at him, mumbling under her breath for only Angie and Jarvis to hear, “Much.”   
Angie tried to stifle her laughter but failed miserably. 

“Last time you said that, you ended up breaking my arm in two places and dislocating my shoulder, so no use George,” Howard said firmly. 

George looked up from the book he was reading and shook his head no before returning to his book.

Angie sat on the edge of Howard’s desk and smiled sweetly at him. “I didn’t know the great Howard Stark was scared of women.”

Howard glared at her then at Peggy. “Have you seen what she can do to a man with just one hand?” He asked the waitress, refusing to give into them. “Of course I am scared of her.”

“I’ll kiss you,” Angie stated, giving Howard a seductive smile. 

“What? No!” Peggy shouted. “Really?” Howard asked, smirking over the waitress’s shoulder at Peggy.

A kiss from the waitress would definitely be worth letting Peggy kick his ass around some, especially since it’ll annoy the hell out of the agent. 

“After she done showing me a few moves then I will kiss you,” Angie answered the billionaire, winking at Peggy over her shoulder. 

“Shake on it?” Howard held his hand out to the young women in front of him. Angie took his hand, giving it a firm shake before dropping it. 

“Alright let’s get this over with Pegs, I got a pretty woman to kiss,” Howard said standing, moving around to the front of the desk and giving the waitress a charming smile. Angie fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. 

“I’m going to kill you,” Peggy fumed, stepping in front of Howard. 

Jarvis and Angie pushed the desk against the far wall, giving the agent and billionaire room for their demonstration.   
George set his book down and turned his attention to the agent and billionaire.  
Angie hopped back on the desk, picked up Howard’s drink and took a sip.  
She smiled over at the butler, “This is gonna be fun.” 

Peggy got into a fighting stance, raising both of her fist up just below her eye level, her feet shoulder width apart. Howard shook his arms out and brought his fist up loosely.

“Let’s get this over with.” Howard nodded, throwing a punch at Peggy’s face.   
The agent side stepped, grabbing his forearm with one hand as the other grabbed the back of his shirt at his neck. 

Peggy looked over at Angie, “Now that I got ahold of him like this, I’m going to pull him back towards me and slightly down and kick out his front leg,” Peggy explained as she did it. 

Howard fell forward on his right shoulder, hitting the hardwood floor with a thud and a grunt of pain. Peggy reached down and pulled Howard to his feet, handing him the knife she kept with her. 

“This one is very important since you have been in this situation before. I don’t care if they are a super soldier or not this will take them down,” Peggy said motioning for Howard to grab her from behind like the Winter Soldier did to Angie a week ago. 

Howard wrapped one arm around her waist tightly and placed the knife to her neck, careful not to cut into the smooth skin on her neck. Peggy elbowed him in the ribs and lifted her right foot, kicking back and hitting his groin with her heel. 

“Holy hell,” Howard hissed in pain, stumbling backwards. 

“Rule one, fight dirty, God knows they’re going to.” Peggy whirled around on him punching him in the stomach then grabbed a fist full of hair in both hands, she brought his head down towards her knee, stopping before she kneed him in the nose. She let go on his hair and stepped back, giving him a chance to catch his breath.

“Mister Stark?” Worry filled Jarvis’s voice as he stepped towards his master. Howard waved him off and stood.   
“One more time, Carter then I get my kiss.” Howard charged at Peggy from across the room, swinging his right arm at her face. Peggy grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back and slammed him face down on the desk. 

 

“Rule two, anything can be used as a weapon and I mean anything you can get your hands on, Rule three, don’t let your opponent get back up, don’t stop till they are knocked out.” Peggy said, lifting Howard up some then slamming him back down on the desk. 

“Enough, Peg enough,” Howard grunted. 

Peggy released the billionaire then stepped back from him to stand beside Angie. Howard stood and ran his fingers through his dark hair then fixed his rumpled clothing. He turned towards the waitress and stepped closer, ignoring the death glare Peggy was sending him.

“I believe I was promised a kiss.” He smirked, stepping in front of the waitress and brushed some hair behind her ear. 

“Right well, this isn’t something I want to see.” George stood and walked out of the room, taking his book with him. Jarvis stood to the right of the desk, his eyes on the agent, ready to pull Howard away the moment she tried to attack.

A growl rumbled deep in Peggy throat as Howard cupped Angie’s cheeks and pressed his lips to hers. She digs her nails into her palms to keep from yanking Howard away from HER Angie and beating him half to death. 

Howard pulled away from Angie after a moment and smirk at the fuming agent. The kiss had been innocent, while Angie was beautiful in every way humanly possible, Howard didn’t actually want her in that way, he just want to annoy and piss off Peggy. Which telling by the death glare she was sending him it had worked. 

“Out,” Peggy barked, turning to look at Angie. 

Jarvis grabbed Howard by his collar and pulled him towards the door and quick as he could. Best to get him out before Peggy killed him.

“Oh Angie, if you would like to finish what we started, you know where to find me.” Howard called from the door, narrowly missing the glass Peggy threw at his head.   
“I apologize for Mister Stark,” Jarvis said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

“Pegg-,” Angie began but was cut off by the agent kissing her hard. She stepped in between the waitress’s legs never breaking the kiss. She gripped Angie’s hips and pull her to the edge of the desk. She dug her nails into the waitress’s hips as she bites softly at Angie’s bottom lip. 

The agent trailed open mouth kisses along her jaw and down her neck leaving smudges of red lipstick along the way. Angie fingers tangled in brunette curls, tugging lightly as she let out a soft moan.

Peggy nipped lightly at Angie’s skin and smoothed her tongue over the spot. She pulled away slightly and looked up at the waitress. “Mine,” she growled possessively, hiking Angie’s skirt up around her waist, her fingers caressing the waitress’s thighs. 

 

Angie bites back a moan and nodded. She had never seen this side of the agent before and it made her feel breathless and sent wetness pooling between her legs. Her eyes slided closed as the older woman kissed her most sensitive spot of her neck. 

Peggy bit down on the skin where Angie’s collarbone and shoulder meet, marking the spot. She kissed lower, unbuttoning the waitress’s shirt as she goes, revealing her flushed chest. She reached around and unhooked Angie’s brassiere, pulling away slightly to take the garment off her body and tossing to the side.

Peggy looked up at the waitress. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered before leaning forward and capturing a nipple between her lips while she caressed Angie’s other breast. Her thumb brushed over Angie’s nipple and the waitress arched into her hand. Peggy flicked her tongue over the hardened bud then dragged her teeth across it lightly.   
“Oh Pegs,” Angie moaned, digging her nails into the agent’s back. 

Peggy ran one finger over the waitress’s cotton panties, pressing down on her clit as she passed it. Angie’s hips jerked forward towards the agent’s finger as she let out a soft cry. Peggy pushed Angie’s panties aside and ran a single finger through her wet folds. 

“This okay?” Peggy asked looking up into the younger woman’s eyes. Angie nodded vigorously and bit down on her bottom lip. 

Peggy was always so caring when it came to Angie and that was one of the many reasons she loved the agent. No matter what Peggy wanted, no matter how caught up in the moment they were, Peggy always stopped to make sure Angie was okay with what was happening. It was those moments of Peggy seeking her consent that made Angie fall in love with her even more.

Peggy slid one finger inside of Angie, groaning at how wet she was. Painfully slow, she pumped her finger in and out of the waitress, drawing moans for her. She leaned up and captured the waitress’s lips in a kiss, adding a second finger in her. 

Angie bit down on Peggy’s bottom lip hard drawing blood as Peggy’s fingers curled inside of her. Peggy moaned low in her throat and moved her fingers faster. Angie wrapped one of her legs around Peggy’s waist, pulling Peggy’s fingers in deeper. Peggy’s thumb came up to rub Angie’s clit as she thrusted inside of her. 

“Oh God, Peggy,” Angie breathed out.

Peggy pulled her hand away and Angie whimpered at the lost of contact. Peggy kissed her way back down Angie’s body. Stopping to give attention to each nipple before continuing her way down. She makes quick work of the rest of Angie’s clothes, leaving the waitress blushing lightly as the agent’s eyes takes in every inch of her. This wasn’t the first time she had been completely naked in front of Peggy but the agent always looked at her as if it was the first time all over again. 

Peggy kissed her way up the inside of Angie’s leg to her thigh. She sucked and nipped at the soft flesh there, marking Angie as hers. She moved to the other thigh, kissing a trail up towards Angie’s center then stopping to caress her thigh with her tongue. 

Angie grasp brunette curls and pulled Peggy closer to where she needed her most. “English please,” Angie begged, trying to get Peggy closer to her center. 

Peggy draped one of Angie’s legs over her shoulder, pulling her closer. The waitress inhaled sharply as Peggy parted the waitress’s lips and ran her tongue through Angie’s folds, moaning at her taste. Peggy looked up and smirked. Angie’s head was thrown back, her eyes closed tightly and her mouth open slightly, breathing coming out in pants. 

Angie whimpered impatiently, tugging on Peggy’s hair. The agent shushed her before lowering her head down and wrapping her lips around Angie’s clit and sucking lightly. Angie gasped and dug her heel into the agent’s back. 

Peggy flicked her tongue over Angie’s clit and entered her with two fingers, setting a steady rhythm, curling her fingers up against Angie’s G-spot with every stroke. Angie’s hips jerked forward in time with Peggy’s fingers.

“Peggy,” Angie moaned, tugging harder on the agent’s curls. Peggy kept her rhythm up, flicking her tongue against Angie’s clit in time with the strokes of her fingers. 

“Oh God, Pegs,” Angie breathed. Her body shook with shockwaves of pleasure, her back arched, her fingers clenched tightly to the brunette curls. Peggy stood and allowed the waitress to slump against her. 

“I should kiss Howard more often,” Angie laughed lightly between gasp for air. Peggy rolled her eyes and picked Angie up, carrying her to the couch. She laid the waitress down, grabbing the blanket draped over the back of the couch and covering her up. Peggy kicked of her shoes and climbed in under the blanket with Angie, wrapping her arms around the younger woman. 

“I would rather you not,” Peggy replied.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry guys, I know it has been forever since I have updated this story but work and life has gotten in the way. I would really love to finish this story if you guys are up to reading it. Hopefully all you lovely readers are still with me. Hope you guys like this chapter and again I am sorry for the wait.

Gunfire erupted around Peggy and Angie as they ran through the forest. Peggy reached out and grabbed Angie by the arm pulling her down behind a fallen tree. “Stay down,” she ordered as she fired her pistol blindly in the direction of the gunfire. 

“I need the other clip from my bag,” Peggy said calmly as she continued to fire her pistol, her voice did not waver and her face showed no fear. Angie watched her for a few seconds, watched as the older woman’s eyes narrowed as she fired her gun, watched as she held her breath and shot one, two, then three bullets at a soldier that had moved in closer to them. Angie looked over the fallen tree and watch as the soldier, who looked no older than 20 fell to his knees clenching his chest with one hand as blood soaked his shirt. The soldier cried out as a bullets tore through his shoulder. He fell backwards and began crying for his mother, begging not to die.

Hot tears rolled down Angie’s cheeks as she watched the young man take his last breath before falling silent. 

“Don’t look,” Peggy whispered pulling Angie into her, shielding her from the body of the dead soldier. 

“How could you just kill him?” Angie asked through her tears, “he was just a boy.”

“He was going to kill us,” Peggy replied calmly as she loaded another clip into her pistol with one hand and firing towards the other soldiers. 

“He was just a boy,” Angie cried, looking at the agent with disgust, with hatred. 

“He was going to kill us, kill you and I will do everything in my power to protect you whether it is right or wrong,” Peggy said with conviction. 

“No!” Angie shouted removing herself from the agent. “He was just a boy Peggy and you killed him, you are a monster.”

Peggy felt her blood run cold, her heart felt like it was breaking in two. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get her lungs to work properly. She knew this day would come, she knew there would be a day when Angie finally saw her for the monster she truly was, the killer she was. It didn’t make it hurt any less though. 

Angie stood from behind the fallen tree and one bullet tore through her chest. She fell to her knees and Peggy rushed towards her. Peggy laid Angie in her lap and pressed her hands to the wound on the waitress’s chest, trying to stop the bleeding but the blood just leaks through her fingers. 

“No, Angie, please stay with me, stay with me Angie, you’re going to be okay,” Peggy whispered over and over as she pulled her jacket off and pressed it to Angie’s chest. 

Angie gasped for breath and gripped Peggy’s shirt. “You did this to me, this is your fault Peggy,” Angie choked out around the blood in her throat. 

“Please, Angie don’t leave me, you are all I have, you’re all I have. I can be better, I can do better for you, I can’t lose you too, I can’t go on without you Angie please, don’t die on me,” Peggy cried, her head falling against the lifeless waitress. She cried and she held Angie’s body close waiting for the soldiers to finish her off, to end this pain. She had failed Angie and she deserved to die with her. 

Suddenly everything changed, she was no longer in the forest, no longer surrounded by gunfire and soldiers, she was no longer clenching on to Angie’s lifeless body. Peggy stood in the middle of one of Howard’s mansion. Panic filled the agent’s body as she looked around for Angie. 

“Anige!” She called out running off towards the kitchen looking for the waitress. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage so hard she could hear it in her ears as she entered the empty kitchen. 

“Angie! Where are you?” Peggy walked back into the foyer, noticing suitcase sitting by the front door. 

“Dammit,” Angie cursed walking down the staircase, her face hidden by her hair. “I was hoping to be gone before you got home.”

“What’s going on?” Peggy asked, stepping closer to the waitress, reaching out for her. She needed to touch Angie, check her for any injuries, make sure she was alright. What Peggy could see of the waitress looked fine, she didn’t appear to be hurt in anyway. Angie flinched and moved away from Peggy. 

“Don’t touch me.” Angie finally looked up at the agent. Peggy felt the air leave her lungs as she took in Angie’s blackened right eye, the cut on her left cheek, her busted lip and the angry looking bruise on her jaw. 

“Who did this to you?” 

“What did you forget what happened last night? Where you too drunk to remember anything? Or did you think that you would go to work, come home and that everything would be okay, everything would be forgiven?” Angie asked venom in her voice as she glared at the agent. 

“I did this to you?” Peggy asked, her voice low. She felt like she was going to vomit. She didn’t know which was worse, Angie dying in her arms or Angie bruised and beaten by her own hands. 

“Yes you did this Peggy and this isn’t the first time.” Angie sighed and sat down on the bottom step of the stairs. “I thought once we defeated HYDRA and cleared our names, things would become normal or as normal as they could be with you being a secret agent, I thought we could be happy and spend the rest of our lives together.” 

She sounded so tired, so defeated, so damn broken and all Peggy wanted to do was hold her but she couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to move towards the waitress for fear of hurting her again.

“But you are gone more nights a week than you are here and when you do come home at night, it’s well past one in the morning and you are either drunk or pass out without saying anything only to wake up a few hours later with your hands around my neck,” Angie paused and looked down at her hands. “Your dreams are getting worse and I don’t know how to help you Peggy, you are just too damaged for me to fix, you are monster.”

Anger raced through Peggy’s veins and she wasn’t exactly sure why. She felt cold metal in her left hand and looked down. She was clenching tightly to her Walther PPK. Peggy looked up to where Angie was sitting on the stairs, to find that she wasn’t there anymore. 

“What the bloody hell is going on here?” Peggy asked out loud.

She whirled around, looking all over for the waitress and coming up empty. She turned back towards the stair and walked up them. She made her way to the only door on the second floor. Opening the door slowly, Peggy’s eyes caught the sight of a trail of blood leading towards the middle of the room.

Peggy raised her pistol and followed the trail of blood. Peggy gasped and dropped to her knees, tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision. Angie’s, Howard’s, Jarvis’s and The Howling Commandos’ bodies laid on top of one another, a small gunshot to each of their foreheads, like the ones her Walther PPK would leave. 

Peggy dropped the gun in her hand and reached out for Angie’s body. Pulling the dead waitress’s body into her lap. She pressed her lips to the side of Angie’s head, pulling her as close as she could.

“I’m so sorry Angie, I’m so sorry.” She repeated over and over through her tears, rocking Angie’s body back and forth. 

Peggy noted the air in the room shifting as if someone had walked in but she didn’t look up, she just kept telling Angie she was sorry, so sorry.

“This is what happens to the people who love you, who care for you, they all end up dead and you come out the other side scarred but stronger. Everyone dies around you and it’s your fault.”   
Peggy didn’t have to look up to know who was in the room with her, she would know that voice anywhere. When the person kneeled in front of her, she finally looked away from Angie’s face and up at them. 

Her eyes met bright blue eyes that reminded her so much of the woman in her arms. There kneeling in front of her, holding a shield almost three times his size was Steve, in all his pre serum glory. And Peggy knew then that this was a dream, a sick and twisted dream and she was so slow and so stupid for not realizing it earlier. 

“Steve,” she choked out around her tears and he smiled at her. “It’s a dream, she’s still alive, I just have to wake up.” 

“Peggy,” he whispered, placing his hand on her cheek, “It’s not a dream, they’re all dead and they are never coming back, you failed them, you failed me, you might as well have shot them yourself.”

She shook her head no at him as more tears slid down her cheeks. “It’s a dream, it has to be a dream, there’s no other explanation for it, it’s a dream.” 

Steve drew his hand away from her cheek and stood, looking down at the agent. “Stay here with me, we can finally have our dance, have the life we wanted together.”

Peggy looked up, noticing for the first time that skinny little Steve was wearing his Captain America suit. He looked as handsome as the first time she laid eyes on him. 

She missed his boyish smile, he’s strong unwavering voice, she missed the way he looked at her as if she hung the moon. She missed his kind heart, his loyalty, his selflessness. She missed Steve Rogers terribly, she missed this Steve terribly, she missed him everyday but she couldn’t stay here with him. She had to get back to Angie, she had to wake up. Angie was alive and Angie needed her. Steve, he was dead, she had already failed him but she would not fail Angie. 

“I can’t Steve, this isn’t real it’s just a dream,” Brown watery eyes meet blue ones. “People are in danger Steve, people will die if I stay here.” She looked down to the body in her arms. “She’ll die Steve.” 

Steve nodded his head in understanding, giving Peggy a sad smile and opened his mouth to speak.  
“Wake up, Peggy wake up.” The words fell from Steve’s lips but not in his voice. “Come on English wake up.”

“Dammit English wake up!” Peggy felt a hand on her cheek, fingers running through her hair, lips on her forehead. “It’s just a dream Pegs, come back to me.”

Peggy bolted up in an upright position, startling the waitress next to her. Peggy looked around the room, breathing hard as her eyes landed on Angie. Early morning light shined in through the study’s windows, giving Peggy a clear view of Angie.

Peggy placed her hand on Angie’s bare chest, where the waitress had been shot in her dream. Frantic brown eyes looked up into worried blue ones. 

“You’re okay,” Peggy whispered, feeling for Angie’s heartbeat, relaxing a bit as she felt it beating against her palm.  
“I’m okay English.”

“You were shot, you died in my arms and then you were alive and leaving me because I hit you, hurt you.” Peggy’s eyes roamed the waitress’s exposed body, eyes lingering on the bite marks and light bruises that pepper Angie’s skin. “I couldn’t save you from them or myself.”

“Hey now,” Angie whispered, tilting the agent’s head up till their eyes met, “You didn’t hurt me, these,” Angie took Peggy’s hand and placed it over one of the hickeys on her shoulder, “Were made by your lips not your fist, they were made out of love not violence.” 

Peggy leaned her head against Angie’s chest, listening to the steady rhythm of her heart. “What if I can’t protect you Angie? What if I fail you, like I failed Steve?” Peggy asked, her voice filled with despair, her hands clenching to Angie’s back. 

“Listen here Peggy Carter, you did not fail Steve, if anything you and Howard gave Steve a second chance at life.” Angie ran her fingers through Peggy’s disheveled curls. “Howard told me about all of his medical conditions. He probably wouldn’t have been alive much longer if he didn’t have that serum. You and Howard helped give him the strength to fight for his Country like he wanted.”

She wanted to tell Peggy that Howard was looking for Steve, that he believed he could bring Steve back but she couldn’t and not just because she did not want to give the older woman false hope, but because she was scared. She was scared that once Steve was back Peggy would leave her for him. 

She wouldn’t fault Peggy if she did go back to Steve. After all Steve was a God among men and she well, she was just a waitress and a failed actress. How could she ever compare to Steve Rogers? But that wasn’t something she needed to worry about at the moment. Stopping HYDRA was what they all needed to focus on right now. 

“I know you are afraid of losing me Peggy, afraid of failing me but you can not let that stop you from stopping HYDRA. I am terrified of losing you, terrified of dying but what terrifies me the most is thinking of all the people that HYDRA will kill if we don’t stop them.” Angie kissed the top of the agent’s head. “Steve gave his life to stop HYDRA and we cannot let that be in vain, it has fallen on us to stop them and if that means giving our lives to do that then we have no choice but to follow Steve’s path. Freedom isn’t free Pegs, you have to fight for it.”

Peggy looked up at the waitress as if seeing her for the first time. When had Angie become so serious? When had Angie decided she would give her life for a cause she was thrusted into because of Peggy? When did Angie Martinelli become so much like Steve Rogers?

“You sounded just like Steve, you are so much like him,” Peggy whispered, gazing lovingly at the younger woman. 

“Guess you have a type than English,” Angie said with a wink. 

“I guess so.”

 

“Peggy, we need information, we are running around with what little we got from Dugan and it’s not enough, we are basically running around blind, we have to do this,” Howard stated, pacing in front of the desk Peggy was sitting at. 

“Howard, we are wanted for treason, we can’t just walk into an SSR office and no one notice.” 

“We go in at night, after staking out the place for a few days and we get what we need, a simple in and out.”

Peggy rubbed at her temples, feeling the start of a headache coming on. She knew they need more information than they got from Dugan but breaking into the Boston SSR office would alert the New York office to where they were and it wouldn’t be long before they came looking for them in Howard’s place. 

“It’s never simple Howard, what if one of us gets caught? What if while we are out one of our friendly neighborhood assassins attack?” Peggy asked, sounding every bit as tired as she felt. 

Howard sighed and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He knew convincing Peggy to break into the SSR wouldn’t be easy but he knew they were going to get nowhere fast without information on the enemy. They couldn’t track down The Winter Soldier, HYDRA or Leviathan without some idea of where they were hiding. 

“It’s a risk we take, everything we do for now on is going to be a risk but we can’t let that stop us Pegs, Dugan can only give us so much information while he is overseas, he has no idea what is going on in the States but the SSR do.” 

“Fine but we do this my way Howard, down to the very last detail, do you understand?” 

Howard nodded and gave her a mock salute, “Understood Sergeant Carter.”

The door to the office opened and Angie stuck her head in, looking to Howard with a smile. “Codenames?” 

Howard grinned at the waitress. “Codenames,” he repeated. Angie walked into the office and took a seat next to Howard, ignoring Peggy and launching into a debate on what their code names would be. 

Peggy stood from her seat and walked around the desk. She kissed Angie on the top of the head and left the two to argue over names. 

“We leave in two hours,” Peggy called from the doorway.

 

“What the fuck is a Weasley?” George asked, staring his sister and the billionaire down. Howard and Angie both shrugged. 

“I don’t know but it sounds nice, George Weasley, has a nice ring to it,” Howard said smiling at the younger man, who just glared at him. “And you kinda remind me of a weasel,” he mumbled under his breath. 

“Jarvis will be Mr. Fancy of course,” Angie said, hip checking the butler. Jarvis smiled down at Angie and bumped her with his shoulder. He had grown quite fond of the waitress over the past week, seeing her as the little sister he never had. 

“Peggy is Miss Union Jack.”

“Dugan told you about that? I told him to never speak again.” Peggy sighed rolling her eyes at Howard. She knew she should have never let Howard and Dugan talk to one another, they gossiped more than anyone Peggy knew. 

“Come on Miss Union Jack, lighten up,” Howard said throwing his arm around her shoulder, pulling her in for a side hug. Peggy shoved him off and walked around the table in the middle of the room, picking up some equipment they would need on the stakeout. 

“I’m going to kill Dugan and then I am going to kill you Howard.”

“What are your names?” George asked as he placed a few items in a duffel bag to take with them on the stakeout. He wasn’t sure why all five of them needed to go, it was a big risk but one Peggy thought necessary, something about them needing to learn to work as a team. In all honesty, George hadn’t been listening to what the agent was saying, he rarely did lately.

“I present to you in all her stunning glory, Sweet Buns.” Howard smirked at Peggy and attempted to slap Angie’s ass but she slapped his hand away. 

“That’s not the name we agreed on Stark.” Angie said, punching the billionaire in the shoulder. 

“Okay okay,” Howard put his hands up in defense, “Miss Hollywood it is, Sweet Buns is way more fitting though.”

“Howard’s code name is Mr. Moneybags,” Anige announced as she and Howard handed out the covert earpieces that Howard had tweaked to increase the range on them. 

“Are these safe?” Jarvis asked as he put the earpiece in his ear and attached the little microphone inside his suit jacket.

“Of course they are safe, I made them,” Howard declared, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at the butler.

“That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence Howard,” Peggy jested. 

“Shut up,” Howard huffed.

“Alright guys, everyone knows the plan right?” Peggy asked and everyone nodded. “Let’s get this over with then.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, another chapter so soon! Aren't you guys so lucky. I have been writing a lot more lately and have the next the chapter written out, so I wanted to post this early for you guy as a thank you for sticking with me and this story. Hope you enjoy and leave a comment if you feel like it, I love reading what you guys think about the chapter and what you love about it.

Howard reached over and turned the radio station for what felt like the hundredth time since they had parked half a block down the street from the SSR building.

Peggy sighed and fought the urge to slap Howard’s hand away from the radio. She had somehow got stuck with Howard during the stakeout and as usual Howard was doing everything in his power to annoy the bloody hell out of Peggy.

“And now it’s time for The Captain America Adventure Program.”

“Turn it,” Peggy growled, looking through a set of night vision binoculars Howard had invented years ago. The sun had set a little over an hour ago and the SSR building was still buzzing with activity. Breaking in would be a lot harder if it stays busy through the night.

“I like this show, Betty Carver is just amazing isn’t she?” Howard grinned at the agent and kicked his feet up on the dash of the car.

“It’s complete rubbish, now turn it.”

Howard studied the agent for a few moments before opening his mouth to speak. “What’s wrong?”

Peggy looked over at him then back to the SSR building. She picked at her red nails and worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t like this, I’m suppose to be the good guy Howard, I’m suppose to be working with the SSR not getting ready to break in one of their buildings, I am suppose to be helping people.”

Howard turned to face the agent fully. “You are helping people Peggy, I know this isn’t the way you imagined it but you are helping people, if we don’t get my inventions back a lot of people will die and the SSR is more worried about catching me and you than the people using my inventions to hurt people.”

Peggy knew he was right, if they didn’t stop HYDRA, no one would and millions of people would be dead. HYDRA would wipe out anyone who did not follow them.

“Look, Pegs I am truly sorry I got you in this mess but you are the only one who can help me fix it. I didn’t want my inventions to get out, not the really bad ones that’s why I locked them away. I don’t want to make weapons anymore, I want to create things that will make the world a better place and weapons aren’t those things.” Howard placed one of his hands on the agent’s.

He really was sorry for pulling Peggy into this, asking her to become a double agent to clear his name. He would never forgive himself if something happen to Peggy, Angie, or Jarvis because of him, because of his inventions.

Howard wanted to change, wanted to settle down, find someone who would love him for all his flaws (and he had so many), he wanted to live a life that would have made Steve proud and he couldn’t do that if he was creating things that killed people. He would give anything to be the man Steve had believed him to be.

“I want to start a intelligence agency when this is over, one that is dedicated to protecting the world from people like HYDRA, one that stops the threat before it happens, one that stands for everything Steve stood for, one that you and I run Peggy,” Howard spoke softly and seriously.

It wasn’t very often that the billionaire was serious and Peggy knew well enough to listen when he was.

“The world needs this, the world needs you to protect it because you are the only one who can do it Peggy."

Howard was offering her a roll, a chance at leadership she wasn't often given, even during her time spent in the army, her time spent with Steve. This was her chance to protect the world in a way she saw fit. It was her chance to protect the world that Steve had given his life for, how could she say no? It was everything she had wanted when she joined the SSR in New York.

Peggy was about to give him an answer when Angie's voice came through their earpieces.

"Mr. Moneybags, Miss Union Jack, we have a tango heading down the alley to the left of the SSR, over."

Peggy and Howard looked over at one another, clearly confused. “Tango?” Peggy asked Howard with a raised eyebrow, “Did you teach her military codes?”

Howard gave a shrug, “She asked.”

Of course she did, while Angie knew how serious and dangerous this was, she seen it as the perfect time to hone her acting skills. Howard had stayed up with her the night before, going over all the military codes he knew and what little hand signal he had learned from Peggy (after the incident with The Winter Soldier and Angie, Peggy thought it was a good idea to teach Howard a few.)

"Angie darling, what are you talking about?" Peggy asked, clicking the button on her microphone. “There’s no targets on this mission, we are just here to observe.”

They waited in silence for Angie to elaborate.

“Anige?” Peggy called into her mic.

“She’s not going to answer you if you don’t use her code name,” Howard stated.

Peggy sighed and rolled her eyes, she didn’t have time for this. She should never had left Howard and Angie alone together.

“Miss Hollywood, what are you talking about?”

“Underwood, with a man in his sixties holding some kind of silver cylinder and they are headed down the alley to the left of the SSR building, over,” Angie spoke slowly into her mic.

Howard’s face paled and he stared at Peggy with wide eyes. “Peggy, you have to get that cylinder, it’s bad really bad.”

Peggy sighed, of course it was. “How bad is it Howard?”

“Finow bad, Peggy.”

“Finow? As in the battle that no one will take credit for?” Peggy asked and Howard nodded his head yes. Peggy exhaled loudly, cursing under her breath. She didn’t know exactly  what happened in Finow but she knew it was some kind of massacre and she knew that Howard had been involved somehow.

“Alright, I am going to go after them and get the cylinder, I want you to go back to the house.” Peggy clicked her mic on, “Jarvis I want you to go back to the house as well, I will handle Dottie.”

“I can’t do that Miss Carter.”

“Why the hell not Jarvis?” Peggy questioned. She did not have time for him to start disobeying orders right now. She needed to get to Dottie before they used that cylinder on innocent people.

“Miss Martinelli went after Dottie.” Jarvis’s voice came out through the earpiece hesitantly.

“Bloody Nora, did you even try to stop her Jarvis?” Peggy grabbed her pistol from under the front seat and loaded a clip into it.

“I did try Miss Carter but she has a mean right hook.”

“Alright, wait where you are, I’ll find her and send her to you then I’ll take care of Dottie.” Peggy tucked her Walther PPK into the waistband of her skirt then she picked up the umbrella Howard had made.

“Get back to the mansion Howard, we’ll be right behind you soon and when I get there, you and I are going to have a long talk about what happened at Finow.” Peggy slid out of the car, slipping on her blazer to hide her pistol.

Howard slid into the driver seat and grabbed Peggy’s wirst through the open window. “Peggy, if a mist starts coming out of the cylinder, you forget about it and you run, run as far away from it as you can, do not breathe it in Peggy.” His voice was desperate, pleading and his eyes widen with panic.

Peggy wanted to ask what he was so afraid of, she wanted to ask what was in the cylinder that had him in such a panic but she didn’t have time for that. She had to get to Angie before the waitress did something stupid, like trying to stop Dottie herself.

“I’ll be careful Howard, don’t worry.”

Howard nodded and dropped his hand. He started the car up and pulled away from the curb as Peggy made her way towards the alley that Angie had said she seen Dottie go down.

“Angie, are you there?” Peggy asked into her mic. She received nothing but silence. Dread seeped into her veins. What if Dottie got to Angie first? What if Dottie had taken Angie? What if Angie was lying in that alley dying?

Peggy shook her head gently, trying to clear these thoughts from her mind, they weren’t doing her any good. If she got worked up, got too emotional she would be careless and she would make mistakes that could cost Angie and a whole bunch of people their lives.

“Come in Angie, please,” Peggy tried to keep her voice steadying but it ended up cracking and sounding desperate. The agent took and deep breath and sprinted towards the alley. That’s when she heard it, that faint clicking sound the microphones made. Relief flooded the agent and she let out a breath she didn’t she was holding.

“Angie, is that you?”

_Click._ “Okay, one click for yes, two click for no,” Peggy stated as she walked down the alley, looking for any signs of Angie and Dottie. “Are you okay?”

_Click._

__

Peggy breathed a sigh of relief as she got to the other end of the empty alley. “Are you still following Dottie?”

_Click._

“Does she still have the cylinder?”

_Click._

“How far from the alley are you, one block?” Click Click. “Two blocks?” Click.

“Did you turn left?”

_Click Click._

“I am on my way Darling, be careful.”  Peggy turned right on the street, walking quickly down the sidewalk, looking for the waitress.

The sidewalk was fairly empty for this time of night and for that Peggy was thankful. For one it made spotting Angie with Peggy’s red hat on (she had insisted on wearing it during the stakeout), walking with her head down, a few steps behind Dottie and the older man that much easier and two, it meant that if whatever in the cylinder got out, less people would be harmed.

“Turn into the next alley.”  Peggy watched as the waitress turned down the alley to her right. She quickened her pace. Once she made it to the alley she pressed Angie against on of the brick building, staring down at her.

“We’re going to have a long talk about this when we get home.” Peggy waved her finger in Angie’s face as if she was getting onto a toddler then she pulled the younger woman into a tight hug. “Go back to Jarvis, he will take you home, I’ll be there soon.”

Angie pushed the agent away from her, shaking her head no. “I’m not leaving you to deal with Dottie and that man alone, you barely made it back the last time you two fought.”

Peggy sighed and rubbed at her temples, feeling a headache set in. “Alright alright, as soon as Dottie and I are fighting, attack the man the way I showed you to, grab the cylinder then run, run straight to Jarvis.”

Angie nodded her head and they set off after Dottie.

Peggy cleared her throat loudly causing the blonde to spin on her heels to face them. The older man turned slowly, grinning at the agent.

“Ahhh, Agent Carter, so good to see you again.”

“Doctor Ivchenko, how did you get away from Chief Dooley?” Peggy asked, keeping her eyes on Dottie, her body was tense ready for a fight, adrenaline starting to course through her veins slowly.

“Actually it’s Johann Fennhoff and well Chief Dooley is no more,” Fennhoff smirked and Angie thought it was the definition of evil. “You and the SSR shouldn’t trust people so blindly, it will come to bite you in the ass later on.”

No more…. The words rang in Peggy’s mind, in Fennhoff’s sinister voice. Her blood ran cold, Roger Dooley was dead and it was her fault, she brought Fennhoff back from Russia, she brought him to the SSR, to Dooley and now Dooley was dead. Once again someone dead because of her.

Angie watched Peggy's shoulders slump slightly in defeat at Fennhoff's words. Angie made herself look as tall as possible, she drew in a deep breath and tried to imitate Peggy's commanding tone that she often used when speaking to Howard.

"Hand over the invention Fennhoff." Angie thanked whoever was looking out for her, that her voice did not waiver, did not trembled.

Dottie and Fennhoff turned to look at the waitress. "Oh Angie, I didn't see you there," Dottie said in an overly cheerful voice that sent chills down Angie's spine. Dottie looked to Peggy with a smirk. "I thought you were smart enough not to let people into our world, they always seem to get hurt or killed."

It was a threat, one that Angie knew Dottie would make good on if given half a chance but she didn't let it scare her. Getting that cylinder from Fennhoff was all that mattered, that was the mission. Howard's microphone had been on when he told Peggy that if something came out of the cylinder, she needed to run, that meant it was something bad and Angie knew she had to get this thing away from Dottie and Fennhoff or a lot of people would die. One life, her life was nothing compared to hundreds.

"Give us the invention," Angie demanded again, reaching into the pocket of her slacks and gripping the small taser gun Howard had given her. She only had one shot at this and she had to get it right.

“I’m sorry I can’t do that.” Fennhoff snapped his fingers and Dottie launched herself at Peggy like an attack dog.

 

Angie took a deep steadying breath and pulled the taser from her pocket, holding onto it tightly, her finger hovering over the trigger. Angie aimed the taser at the Doctor and pulled the trigger. A loud pop sounded as two tiny barbs shot out from the gun and hit Fennhoff in the chest.

Fennhoff’s eyes widened and he body became stiff as the barbs came in contact with his body. He let out a groan through clenched teeth as the electrical voltages flowed through his body. The Doctor fell to his knees and the cylinder slipped from his hand as he glared at Angie.

Angie stepped forward, not letting Fennhoff’s glare scare her and not taking her finger off the trigger of the stun gun, she reached for the cylinder.

“You are going to regret this,” Fennhoff said through clenched teeth. “She won’t always be around to protect you and when she’s not, I am going to skin you alive.”

“I don’t need her to protect me,” Angie retorted, letting off the trigger. She gave him a good, hard kick in the stomach and walked off. “I got it Pegs.”

Dottie looked over at the waitress then back to Peggy. She yanked the umbrella out of Peggy’s hand and bashed the agent over the head with it as hard as she could. Dottie stood, dropping the umbrella and advanced on the waitress.

Peggy released her grip on Dottie and fell back, trying to blink away the stars invading her vision. She could feel blood dripping from a cut on her forehead and she went to wipe it away with the back of her hand but her movements were sluggish and her arm felt heavy. She was on the verge of passing out but she knew she had to stop Dottie, Angie had to get that invention back to Howard.

****  
  


Peggy turned her head slowly and  looked over at the waitress and Dottie. “Bloody hell.” Peggy felt around for the umbrella, that Dottie dropped a few inches from her, she took the knife out of the handle of the umbrella and stood on shaky legs.  She was on the verge of passing out but she knew she had to stop Dottie, Angie had to get that invention back to Howard.

****  
  


Peggy used all of her strength to walk towards the blonde. “Dottie, leave her alone,” she called, her words slurred.

Dottie sighed and turned towards the agent. “You are still with us?” She asked, her voice laced with annoyance. That was the opening Peggy needed. She used the rest of her energy to dart forward and stabbed the knife into Dottie’s thigh. Dottie hissed in pain and backhanded the agent, sending her falling on her ass.

“Run Hollywood,” Peggy mumbled.

Angie was torn between doing as Peggy said and staying to help her. She looked as if she was going to pass out any second, how was she suppose to defend herself against Dottie if she was unconscious?

“Run Angie,” Peggy called, a little more forcibly this time. Angie nodded, tucking the cylinder under her arm and ran back the way they came.

Dottie pulled the knife out of her thigh with a grimace and wiped the blood off on her pants. She placed her foot on the agent’s chest and pushed her down onto her back.

“You are going to pay for that.” Dottie straddled the agent’s waist and pressed the tip of the knife against her left cheek, slowly dragging it downwards, making a shallow cut.

Fennhoff stood and brushed off his pants and came to stand next to Dottie, staring down at Peggy with a look of utter disgust. “Don’t kill her, just tell her what else we found in Stark’s vault.”

“I made it English, we’re taking the cylinder to Howard, you better bring yourself home Peggy,” Angie’s voice came through the agent’s earpiece and Peggy breathed a sigh of relief. “I love you English.”

Dottie grinned down at the agent. “Did you know that your best friend Howard has been looking for Captain America?” Dottie dug the tip of the knife into Peggy’s arm. “His files say he’s pretty close to finding him too and that he might be able to bring him back.”

“You’re lying, he’s dead and not even Howard can bring him back.” She had to be lying right? There’s no way Howard would keep that from her, he knew how much Steve meant to her, how much she loved him. Howard could be selfish at times but he wouldn't lie to her about this, about Steve.

“I am? Why don’t you just ask Howard yourself.” Dottie sneered at the agent.

A car pulled up next to the trio. The passenger door opened up and Howard stepped out, wearing some kind of headphones and pressed a button on the small device in his left hand. A ear piercing noise erupted from the device causing the trio to cover their ears.

Fennhoff stumbled backwards, gripping his ears tightly trying to block out the noise. Dottie rolled off of Peggy, clenching her head and groaning.

Howard stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the agent’s waist, pulling her to her feet. Blood started to drip from Peggy’s ears. She became limp in Howard’s arms as he dragged her to the car.

Howard grunted as he got her into the car. Peggy was a lot heavier than she looked. Howard ran around to the driver side of the car and slide inside, turning the device off.

**  
**“I got her,” Howard said into his mic as he drove away from the curb.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't update sooner, my girlfriend just went back to New York and I have kinda been down. Anyways here's the next chapter, hope you guys enjoy. Thank you for reading and reviewing the last chapter.

Peggy woke to the sun filtering in through the windows. Her brain felt like it was pounding against her skull. She groaned and grabbed the closest pillow and covered her face with it.

She couldn't remember what had happened the day before, actually she couldn't remember the last week. Every part of her body hurt, every part of her felt heavy. She felt as if she had been hit by a truck and in her line of work, it wasn't impossible for that to have happened.

She lifted the pillow from her head and sat up slowly. The pounding in her head worsened, her vision blurred and she felt as if she was going to be sick. The last time she had felt this way was when she had been out drinking with the Commandos after losing Steve. They had drank to the point that Pinky and Junior had gotten alcohol poisoning and Colonel Phillips had to drag each of them out of the bar.

Peggy stumbled out of bed and towards the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time to empty the contents of her stomach. Her throat and nostrils burning as she dry heaves into the toilet. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and stands on shaking legs. She moves over to the sink, turning on the cold water and splashing her face with it.

She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. Her forehead had a deep purple bruise that disappeared into her hairline. There was an ugly, red cut across her left cheek. Peggy ran her fingers lightly over the cut, trying to remember how she got it.

Sighing, Peggy pushed off the sink and made her way out of the bathroom. She needed to find Angie or Howard so she could figure out what the hell happened. She left the bedroom and walked down the hallway, leaning heavily on the wall for support. Her head was still pounding, her ears hurt and she felt dizzy.

"Oh, you're up," George called from the top of the stairs, around a mouth full of food. "You gave us quite a scare there."

"How long was I out?" She asked, taking the arm he offered to steady her.

"Two days."

"Two days? What the hell happened?" They walked down the stairs slowly with Peggy leaning most of her weight on George.

"Howard will explain, he's in the garage with Angie."

 "Ahh, Miss Carter it's so good to see you up and about."  Jarvis smiled from the kitchen doorway, apron tied around his waist and a dish towel hanging over his left shoulder. "I just finished lunch, how about some tea and something to eat?"

At the mention of food, Peggy’s stomach growled loudly and she gave Jarvis a sheepish smile.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jarvis laughed and turned back to the kitchen. “I’ll bring it out to the garage, maybe you can get Angie and Howard to eat something.”

George lead the way to the garage and stopped at the door, reaching forward to open the door. “I can take it from here, thank you George.” Peggy patted his shoulder and smiled at him. George nodded and made his way back to the stairs.

Peggy opened the door quietly and slipped into the brightly light garage, looking around for Angie and Howard. She spotted their legs sticking out from under a dark blue Alfa Romeo 6C 2500. She smiled and walked closer to the pair, getting ready to call out to them when she heard them arguing with one another.

“You can’t keep it from her forever Howard, she’s going to remember what happened,” Angie argued, her voice slightly muffled.

“She’s not going to remember Angie, stop worrying,” Howard exhaled loudly. “The device I used causes short term memory loss, she’s not going to remember a thing from the past few days.”

Anger and betrayal was all Peggy could feel. Her best friend and the woman she loved were keeping secrets from her, they were willing going to lie to her face about whatever had happened the past few days.  She expected this from Howard, it wouldn’t be the first time he kept something from her and it probably wouldn’t be the last but she never thought Angie would keep secrets from her and knowing that Angie would hurt. It hurt more than Peggy cared to admit.

“I don’t like the idea of lying to her, it makes me sick,” Angie admitted.

At least one of them felt somewhat bad for lying to her.

“You are lying to protect her, like how she lied to you to protect you.”

Peggy clenched her fists and bit the inside of her cheek. She lied to protect Angie from the danger of the life she lived, to keep her from getting killed like Colleen.

“That doesn’t make it right Howard, we are not lying to protect her, we are lying to protect you and your secret,” Angie snapped at him, sliding out from under the Alfa Romeo and standing. She grabbed a dirty rag from on top of the car and wiped her greasy hands on it. Spotting movement to her left, Angie grabbed the closest tool to her and whirled around to face whoever had entered the garage.

“Oh, English it’s just you.” Angie gave Peggy a nervous smile and sat the wrench she picked up down. She wanted to rush over to the agent, she wanted to make sure Peggy was okay. She wanted to kiss her, to hug her but the glare Peggy was giving her stopped her from moving.

“Peggy?” Howard tried to jump up but ended up hitting his head on the car above him. “Ow, fuck.” He slid out from under the car and stood next to Angie, looking as guilty as sin and rubbing his forehead.

“What happened? Why can’t I remember anything? And why were you two going to lie to me about it?” Peggy asked, her arms crossed over her chest, glare firmly in place.

"Look Pegs, I can explain," Howard began, squirming under the agent's piercing gaze, shifting nervously from foot to foot. So much for keeping things a secret, Howard thought.

"We went to spy on the SSR, to gather Intel about their building's security so we could break in and get the files we need on the Winter Solider but Dottie showed up with Ivchenko, who is really Johann Fennhoff and they had one of my inventions that was used at the battle of Finow," Howard paused when Jarvis walked into the garage, carrying a tray with tea and sandwiches.

“Finow,” Peggy repeated in her head. She remember telling Howard that they were going to talk about what really happened at Finow.

"Sorry to interrupt Mister Stark," Jarvis apologized, setting the tray on the car Peggy was leaning on. He handed her a cup of tea with a soft smile.

Jarvis grabbed two of the three plates on the tray and turned giving one to Howard and the other to Angie. "Eat," he ordered, giving both of them a hard look and they nodded, each taking a big bite of their sandwiches. Jarvis rolled his eyes at the pair and turned back to the agent, who was sipping her tea slowly.

“You should eat too, Miss Carter.”

“I’ll eat when I get some answers.”

Jarvis nodded his head in understanding and gave Peggy's shoulder a soft squeeze then left the garage.

"You were going to go after Dottie and get my invention back, you ordered all of us back to the house but Jarvis couldn't leave because Ang-,"

"Because I went after Dottie," Angie interrupted, wringing her hands together like she was nervous. "Then you caught up to me and we confronted them, you and Dottie fought, I took Fennhoff down with my tazer and grabbed the invention and ran.”

**  
**“I don’t understand, why did y’all want to keep this from me?” Peggy asked through a mouthful of her sandwich. She was growing impatient with the two of them. What could be so bad that they wanted to keep it from her? **  
**

“That’s not what Howard wanted to keep from you,” Angie informed and Howard scowled at her. He really did not what to tell Peggy about Steve, about him looking from Steve. He did not want to crush her if he didn't find Steve.

“Bloody hell Howard, just tell me what it is,” Peggy growled, getting frustrated with the billionaire and his need to beat around the bush all the time.

Howard sighed and his shoulders slumped as he walked to a desk against the far wall of the garage. He grabbed a thick folder from one of the drawers of the desk and walked back over to the agent and the waitress. He handed the folder to Peggy and stepped back next to Angie, out of the agent’s arm reach.

Peggy sat the file down on the trunk of the car and flipped open the first page, revealing a small faded picture of skinny Steve, along with his pre serum and post serum infomation. She ran a finger over the picture and looked up at Howard with a raised eyebrow then looked back down at the file and turned to the next page.

The page held the debriefing of Steve’s plane crash that Peggy had to give hours after he had crashed the plane. She remember having Howard help her write out the report as she sat at a desk with a bottle of whiskey clenched tightly in her hands as she recounted everything to Howard. Her eyes skimmed over their last conversation before flipping to the next page in the file.

The next page was a map of the Arctic with red x’s marked all along it. “What is this?” Peggy asked, looking back up to Howard, although she was sure she already knew what it was.

“It’s a map of the Arctic, where I think Steve might have crashed, I'm going to find him and I am going to bring him back,” Howard rushed out, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for Peggy to explode on him.

Except Peggy didn't explode, she didn't lash out at him like Howard thought she would. She just stood there staring down at the map, her eyebrows knitted together and a finger tracing the red  x's on the map.

Howard and Angie exchanged worried looks. This definitely wasn't what they were expecting. Peggy was unusually calm and it was kinda scary.

"Howard," Peggy began, her voice sad. "You can't spend your life looking for him, he wouldn't want that for you, Steve would want you to be happy."

“I have to find him Peggy, I have to bring him home, I have to try to save him,” Howard said desperately, guilt and sadness flashing across his face before he looked down at his hands. “I owe him that much.”

“I know you loved him Howard, I loved him too but he is gone and we have to move on, as impossible as that may sound, we have to let him go," Peggy paused and stepped closer to Howard, taking one of his hands in her own. "Steve would want us to move on."

Howard looked up at her with teary eyes and shook his head. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t give up on Steve. Steve wouldn’t have given up on him, so how could Peggy expect him to give up on Steve?

"I can't Peggy." He ripped his hand from hers and moved back. “I can’t move on, I won’t and I can’t believe you are so willing to move on, to give up on him, I can find him and save him.”

Peggy’s face hardened into a glare and her fist clenched as she took a step towards Howard.

Angie jumped in between them, placing her hands on their chest and pushing them both backwards before one of them threw a punch. “Maybe we should talk about something else.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Peggy said, walking back over to the car she had been leaning on earlier. “Tell me about Finow.”

“Fine,”

****  
_Finow 1944_ **  
**

_Howard stepped off the plane and was led by the arm towards a Dodge WC by one of General McGinnis’s men and was shoved into the back of the vehicle._

_“Hey, watch it,” Howard growled. He did not like being treated like some kind of prisoner._

_After he had heard about McGinnis using Midnight Oil at Finow, Howard had gotten on the first plane and flown out to see what the damage was. He had told McGinnis that Midnight Oil did not work as it was intended to, that it didn’t keep soldiers awake for days at a time, that it caused symptoms similar to sleep deprivation, anger, hallucination, and psychosis but the General had refused to listen, he ordered his men to raid one of Howard’s labs and take every invention in there, along with all his documents._

_An hour or so later the vehicle stopped and Howard was dragged out by another man, this one not much taller than him. Howard figured if he needed, he could easily take this man down and escape. The man led him to a hill overlooking a small town. They stared down at the empty town and a large field that sat to the right of the town._

_Blood, there was blood everywhere, on every inch of grass in the field. Bodies with chunks of skin missing in most places were scattered everywhere. The air smelled of rotten meat that had been sitting out in the hot sun for a couple of days._

_Howard turned his head and threw up all over the soldier’s holding on to his arm shoes._

_The soldier gripped his arm harder and dragged him down the hill. With each stepped they took the smell became stronger and it took everything Howard had not to throw up again._

_Howard looked down at the bodies as they passed them, choking back sobs. The soldier came to a stop next to the body of a young man, whose eyes were wide open, his mouth opened in a permanent scream and part of his right cheek missing. The soldier released Howard’s arm and bent down, closing the man’s eyes and mumbling a quick prayer._

_The soldier looked up at Howard. “This isn’t war, this isn’t what I signed up for, this was a massacre, how could you do this to these people? How could you make something that only causes destruction?” He asked standing up and gripping his pistol that was strapped to his leg._

_“It wasn’t supposed to do this,” Howard motioned to the bodies around them, taking a step back from the angry soldier. “I told McGinnis it didn’t work like it was supposed to, I told him not to use it, I begged him not to but he didn’t listen.”_

_The soldier stepped forward, pulling the pistol from it’s holster and placing it against Howard’s forehead. “You deserve to die for all the people you and you inventions have killed."_

_Howard nodded numbly. He believed he deserved to die, he believed he deserved a fate worst than what these people, these soldiers met because of him. He didn’t want to do this anymore, he didn’t want to create destruction, he didn’t want to cause anymore pain with his inventions than he already had. He wanted to help people not kill them._

_“Corporal! Put your weapon down,” General McGinnis shouted from a few yards away as he stalked towards the pair, with two men following behind him._

_The soldier pulled his pistol from Howard's head then brought the butt of the pistol down against Howard's cheek._

_Howard grunted in pain and fell to his knees, his hand coming up to his now split cheek._

_"Stand down Corporal," McGinnis ordered, now standing next to the soldiers.  “We need Stark alive, he has a lot more inventions to make for us.”_

_Howard stood and pulled a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, pressing it to his bleeding cheek. “I’m not making anything else for you.”_

_McGinnis waved his hand towards Howard and the two soldiers behind him stepped forward and pulled Howard to his feet._

_“Oh I think you will.” He smiled sinisterly at Howard as he pulled his revolver from it’s holster. “Because, every time you refuse me I will kill someone.”_

_The General lifted his revolver up and pointed at the Corporal’s head then pulled the trigger, never taking his eyes from Howards, not even as the Corporal’s body hit the ground._

_“No!” Howard screamed, breaking free from the soldiers holding him. He rushed the General, tackling him to the ground. He straddled McGinnis’s waist and started throwing punch after punch at his face._

_“Get him off me,” McGinnis yelled, trying to block Howard’s punches._

_The two soldiers reached down and pulled Howard up without a word._

_“Do we have a deal?” McGinnis asked as he stood and brushed his uniform off._

_Howard nodded numbly. He wouldn’t let anymore innocent people die because of him._

 

“How many?” Peggy asked “How many Midnight Oils did you make?”

Howard looked up at the agent, “At least a dozen.”

“We have to get them back from Dottie, we can’t let her use them,” Angie said, placing her tea cup back on the tray, panicking at the thought of Dottie using Midnight Oil on anyone.

“We’ll find her and we will get them back, all of them,” Peggy reassured her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the wait on this chapter, life, work and school have gotten in the way lately but I did finish the next chapter today, so once I get half way through chapter 16, I'll post it. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy this one. Leave a comment if you like to let me know what you think.

“I don’t like it,” Peggy announced, hands on her hips as she stared at the whiteboard in front of her.

Howard rolled his eyes and sighed. “This is the third plan I have come up with, you don’t like any of them, but this one is our best bet and we don’t have the luxury of time to come up with any other plans.”

Peggy exhaled loudly through her nose and turned to look at Howard. “Alright, we’ll go with this plan then but-,”

“But if anything happens to her, you’ll kill me,” Howard finished for her.

“No, if anything happens to her you better pray she’ll be okay because what will happen to you will be a fate worse than death.” She stalked towards him and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling him off the ground slightly, making her threat very clear.

“I get it Peggy,” Howard gulped.

“Do you?” She asked staring him down. “Do you get that keeping her safe is my number one priority? Do you get that she is all I care about? Do you get that I will stop at nothing to keep her safe?”

“I do Peggy, I know you can’t lose her and I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening,” Howard promised.

The agent searched his eyes for any hints of uncertainty, any hints of doubts that this plan wouldn’t work. She couldn’t let Angie risk her life if Howard wasn’t one hundred percent sure that this plan was going to work perfectly.

She let go of the billionaire’s shirt and stepped back, looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry, I just, I love her Howard and I cannot let her get hurt.”

Howard stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, smiling at her. “I know, I know it’s okay.”

“Right well, we should get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Peggy turned on her heels and left Howard standing in the study alone.

Peggy made her way to the bedroom her and Angie were sharing. She pushed the bedroom door open and stood in the doorway, taking in the sprawled out waitress asleep on the king size bed.

_"How could someone so small take up so much room?"_  Peggy wondered, leaning against the door frame, watching the waitress sleep.

How could she ask Angie to go along with this plan? Granted Angie’s part in Howard’s plan wasn’t the most dangerous part but Peggy still didn’t like putting the waitress in harm’s way. If Angie got hurt she would never forgive herself. It was her job to keep the waitress safe, she promised George she would. The thought of Angie being hurt in anyway made the agent sick to her stomach.

“You’re staring,” Angie mumbled from her place on the bed, rolling over to look at the agent.

“Sorry.” Peggy shrugged and it was so un-Peggy like that it came off awkward. She pushed herself off the doorframe and walked over to the side of the bed.

“Stop worrying English.” Angie reached forward and tugged the agent onto the bed with her.

“Am I that transparent?” Peggy asked then leaned down and pressed her lips to Angie’s in a gentle kiss.

“Only to me.” Angie reached up a ran a finger across the agent’s forehead, tracing the wrinkles there. “Your forehead wrinkles in the most adorable way when you are worrying.”

Peggy scoffed at the waitress. “I am not adorable.”

“You are,” Angie said with a smile. “Now, what has you worrying so much?”

The agent stared down at her hands and began picking at her fingernails, a nervous habit of her’s. “There’s just so much that can go wrong tomorrow and I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Peggy, we have to stop Dottie and HYDRA no matter what, no matter the risk we don’t have a choice, if we don’t stop them no one will.”

“I know, I know,” Peggy groaned, burying her face in a pillow. “I want to stop them, I am going to stop them but I don’t want to lose you in the process.” Peggy’s words came out muffled around the pillow and Angie shook her head, moving closer to the agent.

Angie placed her hands on Peggy’s shoulder and worked the tense muscles under her fingers.

“You need to stop worrying, relax and try to get some sleep or you’re not going to be any good to us tomorrow,” the waitress whispered as she continued to massage Peggy’s shoulders.

Peggy turned her head to the side. “I love you Angie.”

“I know English, now go to sleep.”

* * *

 

Howard and Peggy stood in front of the whiteboard, facing Jarvis, Angie and George briefing them on the plan.

“We will park the car three blocks from the SSR building,” Howard pointed to a map of Boston ”in the right hand corner of the whiteboard. “Jarvis and George will stay in at the car, keeping an eye out for Dottie or The Winter Soldier.”

“Howard, Angie and myself will proceed on foot to the back entrance of the SSR, Angie will distract the guard on duty by playing the part of a young woman who got lost on the way to her hotel."

Angie raised her hand and Peggy nodded at her, allowing her to speak. “What hotel and how long do I need to keep the guard distracted for?” She asked.

Angie was both nervous and excited. She knew she didn't have the biggest part to play in their plan but she was nervous that she would mess up and end up making things harder for Peggy.

“The Northampton,” Howard answered, looking at the map of Boston again.  “And seeing as we are trying to go in without them noticing that we were ever there, I would say Peggy will need about forty-five seconds to pick the lock on the door."

Angie nodded and rubbed her hands together nervously. What if she couldn’t do this? What if she couldn’t keep the guard distracted long enough? What if everything went wrong because of her? This was their only chance to get information on HYRDA, and the Winter Soldier. They needed to get this mission done tonight, so they could go after Dottie and Fenhoff.

"Once we are inside we will make our way to the file room, which is located on the other end of the building." Howard pointed to the blueprints on the whiteboard.

Jarvis placed his hand on Angie’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’ll do fine Miss Martinelli,” he whispered as Howard droned on and on about the next steps in the mission.

Angie smiled weakly at the butler. Jarvis bumped his shoulder with hers, grinning at the waitress.

Jarvis could see how nervous the poor girl was but he had no doubt that Angie would be able to keep the guard distracted long enough for Howard and Peggy to break in the building.

“You are one hell of an actress, you’ll do great,” Jarvis reassured her.

“Maybe he was right, maybe I can pull this off,” Angie thought. Surely Peggy and Howard wouldn’t allow her to do this if they thought for one second she wouldn’t be able to pull if off, right? There’s no way they would set her up to fail.

Peggy watched as several different emotions passed across Angie’s features. She wanted to go over there and wrap her arms around the waitress, calm her nerves. Peggy watched as Jarvis spoke quietly to Angie, smiled at her and bumped his shoulders against her’s as if they had been friends for a long time.

Peggy smiled softly to herself. Angie didn’t need her all of the time, she didn’t need Peggy to comfort her, to calm her nerves. Angie had Jarvis and for that Peggy was thankful.

Howard cleared his throat loudly and glared at the butler and the waitress, who stop talking long enough to look at him then continued talking as if he had never interrupted them.

Howard turned to Peggy, his arms crossed over his chest and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout. “Peggy,” he whined, stomping his foot like a toddler.

The agent sighed and turned towards Angie and Jarvis. “Enough you two, this is important, if something goes wrong while we are in the building, you need to know what to do.”

Angie and Jarvis nodded and mumbled their apologies to Howard.

“Thank you, now as I was saying.”

 

* * *

Jarvis parked the car along the curb, wedged tightly between two cars.

Angie, Howard and Peggy piled out of the car, readjusting all of their mics and earpieces, checking one last time to make sure everything was in working order.

Peggy leaned down and stuck her head in the driverside window, looking from Jarvis to George. “Remember the plan?”

Both men nodded their heads yes.

“Good,” Peggy smiled, standing up and stepped away from the car.

Jarvis reached through the window and gripped the agent’s arm tightly, pulling her back towards the car. “Protect her Miss Carter, at all cost.”

While Jarvis had no doubts that Angie could pull her part of the plan off flawlessly, he still worried for the younger woman’s safety.

Peggy nodded her head, “Of course Mister Jarvis.”

The butler loosened his grip on her arm, looking up into her eyes then let it go completely. “Alright, get going then, good luck Miss Carter.”

“Keep your eyes open and radio in any problems,” Peggy reminded him before walking to catch up with Howard and Angie, who had started walking towards the SSR building.

Peggy smiled to herself as she made her way down the sidewalk. She knew that if anything ever happened to her, she could count on Jarvis to take care of and protect Angie. She felt much better knowing that Angie had Jarvis to look after her.

“What was that about?" Howard asked when Peggy was within earshot.

“Just Jarvis wishing us good luck.”

“Ahhh." Howard threw his arms around Angie’s and Peggy’s shoulders as they walked. “No need for luck, we got the best damn Agent in the world and the best damn actress in the world on this mission, plus a devilishly handsome billionaire, what could possibly go wrong?”

Angie groaned loudly and shoved Howard away from her. “Did you really just ask what could possibly go wrong?”

“Yes?” he questioned, raising his eyebrow up at Peggy, whom just shook her head at him.

“You do realize that you just jinxed us right?” Angie asked him but she didn’t give him a chance to answer. “Asking what could possibly go wrong is just asking for everything to go wrong, mark my words Stark something is going to go wrong now.”

“I did not jinx us.”

“Starting to regret your decision to take Mister Stark with you yet?” Jarvis’s voice came through Peggy’s earpiece, a hint of laughter in his voice.

“You know why I left you in that car Jarvis,” Peggy answered. “You are much more observant than Howard is.”

“Sir, you can not park here,” A muffled voice came through their earpieces, causing the trio to stop in their tracks.

“Jarvis, who is that?” Peggy asked looking back down the street they came from but it was no use, they were too far away from the car to be able to see what was going on.

“Jarvis? George?” Peggy asked, getting ready to run back towards the car. “Do we abort the mission?”

“Wait,” Howard ordered, grabbing a hold of Peggy’s arm and keeping her from moving. “Give them time to handle whatever it is, this is our only chance to do this.”

She knew he was right, she knew that if they had to abort the mission that they had no chance on getting information on The Winter Soldier and HYDRA. Dottie already knew they were in Boston, it was only a matter of time before she found them at Howard mansion.

She nodded her head at Howard and he released her arm.

Angie moved to stand next to Peggy, her hand finding the brunette’s and gripping it tightly. Her stomach knotted in worry for her brother and Jarvis. Angie knew that what they were doing was going to be dangerous but she thought it was only going to be dangerous for Peggy, Howard and herself. She figured that the car would have been the safest place for her brother.

She wanted to keep him safe, keep him from harm. It was her fault he was even in the mess and if anything happened to him the guilt of that would probably destroy her.  How would she explained to their parents that after surviving the war, George was killed here because she pulled him into a world of spies and a war between two secret government agencies. How would she explained to them that George was killed because she was foolish enough to fall in love with a secret government agent?

Peggy gave the younger woman’s hand a squeeze and smile down at her. “He’ll be okay.”

“I hope so,” Angie mumbled, looking down at her boots, dragging the tip of one across the sidewalk.

"I know so, he's a soldier Angie, he can handle whatever it is."

"He used to be a soldier Peggy, he's not anymore."

Peggy kissed the top of the waitress's head. "Once a soldier, always a soldier."

"We are fine Miss Carter, it was a police officer we have to move the car," Jarvis's steady voice came through their earpieces.

Angie breathed a deep sigh of relief. A weight lifted off her chest, knowing her brother and Jarvis were safe.

 “What about the other cars?” Peggy asked. She did not remember seeing any no parking signs. Something did not feel right to the agent. There was too many cars parked on that block for it to be a no parking zone.

"The officer is writing tickets for them now,” George answered. “We will move a block back and I will meet Angie half way on her way back, just to be safe.”

“I’m not sure about this, it just doesn’t feel right,” Peggy announced. “We’re coming back.”

“We can’t go back now Peggy, we need to do this,” Howard argued.

“Mister Stark is right Miss Carter, you have to do this now, a lot of people will die if you do not stop HYDRA,” Jarvis pointed out.  "You are the only person able to stop them Miss Carter."

"It doesn't feel right Jarvis, if one of you get hurt or worse killed, I will never forgive myself."

"What is one life compared to thousands?” Jarvis asked the agent, knowing full well that when put like that that Peggy would agree to go along with the plan. He knew she would do what Steve would do.

“Alright,” Peggy sighed, continuing her way to the SSR building with Angie and Howard following closely behind her.

They stopped at the corner on the alley that the back door to the building was on. Peggy turned to Angie and cupped her face gently.

“You remember the plan?” She asked, looking into the younger woman’s blue eyes.

Howard turned away from the pair to try and give them a bit of privacy.

“Yes English, it’s not that complicated,” Angie answered with a small smile.

“Okay,” Peggy nodded speaking  more to herself than to Angie. “ Just be careful going back to the car.”

“Of course,” Angie leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the corner of the agent’s mouth. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Peggy whispered pressing her lips fully against Angie’s.

Howard turned to face the couple, smirk firmly in place. “Do I get a kiss for good luck too?”

Peggy rolled her eyes and pulled away from Angie. “Let’s get this over with.”

Angie took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, she pulled a small map of Boston out of her purse  and slipped into the character of a damsel in distress.

The waitress made her way down the alley towards the lone guard standing watch at the door.  Peggy and Howard waited until she was far enough down the alley before they followed, pressing themselves up against the alley wall. They moved along the wall slowly, coming to a stop behind a dumpster.

“That smells awful,” Howard complained, hiding his nose in the crook of his elbow.

“Shut up,” Peggy whispered as she peaked around the dumpster, watching the scene unfold, her hand on the holster on her hip, ready to move if anything goes wrong.

“Excuse me Miss, you can’t be down here,” the guard called out to Angie, who was looking down at the map in her hands confused.

Angie looked up at the man then looked around her as if she was lost. “ I’m terribly sorry Mister,” Angie said sincerely, her voice thick with a southern accent. “ I am completely lost, I’m new to town and this city is just so big.”

The guard stepped towards Angie, smiling softly at her. “Where are you headed Miss?”

“The Northampton,” Angie replied sweetly. “I seem to have took a wrong turn somewhere.”

The guard looked the actress up and down, taking in the way the red dress she was wearing hugged her every curve. His soft smile turned into a dark smirk as he stepped closer to Angie.

Peggy reached for her pistol, gripped the handle tightly and went to step out from behind the dumpster. Howard quickly grabbed her arm and held her in place.

“Relax, Angie can handle herself.”

The agent released her death grip on her pistol and slumped her shoulders, glaring at the SSR agent. She did not like the way he was looking at Angie, like she was some piece of meat that was his for the taking.

“She’s really good,” Howard commented as they watched Angie lead the agent to the other end of the alley.

“I know,” Peggy stated proudly as she set the timer on her watch for 60 seconds.

They moved as quickly and quietly from behind the dumpster and towards the back door of the building. Peggy kneeled in front of the door and held her hand out to Howard for the lock pick set.

The billionaire dug around in the bag on his shoulder, looking for the set of lockpicks he put in there earlier along with a few inventions.

“Hurry up Howard,” Peggy whispered urgently, watching as the seconds ticked away on her watch. They needed to get inside the building before Angie ran out of distractions.

“It’s in here somewhere, I know it,” Howard said more to himself than to Peggy. “Aha!” He exclaimed excitedly, holding the lockpicks up in the air, a grin on his face.

“Who’s there?” The guard said, turning towards Howard and Peggy, his gun pointed at them. “Stay behind me Miss.”

“You idiot,” Peggy sighed as she stood and turned towards the guard with her hands raised.

This is why she did not want Angie to be apart of the plan, something always goes wrong when Howard is involved and now Angie could get hurt because Howard did not know how to keep his mouth shut.

“Place your gun on the ground Carter and kick it towards me,” The guard ordered, walking towards the pair his gun still trained on them.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble, we just need to get a few files and then we will be out of here and no one has to get hurt,” Howard explained, trying to talk their way out of this.

“Shut up!” Both Peggy and the guard barked at the billionaire.

Peggy slowly moved her right hand towards the pistol on her hip and just as slowly pulled it from it’s holster. She kept her eyes on Angie’s as she bent to place the gun on the ground, hopping that the waitress would get the hint and make a move on the guard.  

Angie nodded and  moved to stand right behind the guard, pulling the Walther PPK from her purse and smashed it  against the back of the guard’s head, sending him falling to his knees.  She removed the handcuffs that were attached to his belt and cuffed one of his hands.

Peggy lowered her hands then turned on Howard, livid. She reached up and slapped him in the back of the head hard. “You are the dumbest genius I know."

“I’m sorry Pegs, I forgot where we were for a second,” Howard mumbled as he handed her the picklocks.  

“Just help Angie handcuff him to the dumpster,” The agent sighed, turning to work on the lock to the door.

Howard helped Angie drag the guard to the dumpster he and Peggy had been hiding behind moments ago. He attached the handcuff that was not around the guard’s hand to the leg of the dumpster and stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth then turned to Angie.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Howard, it was nothing I could not handle." Angie smiled, bumping her shoulder against his.

“Are you sure?” He asked, looking at her with concern filled eyes.

“I’m okay,” Angie answered.

“Radio in with George and Jarvis, tell them you are on your way and have George meet you halfway,” Peggy said sternly from her place by the door. She stood and pushed them door open. “Let’s go Howard.”

“Be careful,”

“You too,” Angie called over her shoulder as she walked down the alley.

* * *

 

“George, I am headed to the car, Peggy and Howard are in the building,” Angie’s voice came through George’s and Jarvis’s radio.

“I’m on my way,” George told her and exited the car. “I will be back Jarvis, sit tight,”

“Yes Sir,” Jarvis nodded and watched as the younger man walked down the sidewalk, with his hands in his pockets and his head down, he looked like any other man on his way home from  the bar.

As George got farther and farther away from Jarvis, he switched his radio off and turned on the one hidden in his jacket.

“The packet is on its way, you are a go,”

“Confirmed, will strike in five,” a female voice came through his radio.

George sped up his walking, catching sight of his sister walking down the sidewalk with her head down.

“Stupid, Stupid girl,” he said to himself as he shook his head. He almost felt bad for what was about to happen but she brought this on herself, the second she learned what Peggy Carter really did, who she really was Angie should have went running for the hills but instead she stayed and in staying she made herself a target.

George stopped walking as a car pulled up next to Angie and a figure stepped out of the car, grabbing Angie by the arm and injecting something into her neck. He quickly made his way to Angie and the figure.

“You promise no harm will come to her?” George asked as he stood in front of the person holding his sister up.

“I promise I will not harm her,” Dottie said with a smile and shoved Angie into the back seat on the car.

“Why did it have to be her?” George asked, shifting from one foot to the other and glaring down both sides of the sidewalk.

“Because, I can kill two birds with one stone Georgie,” Dottie answered, reaching forward and patting his cheek. “I will get Stark and Carter at the same time and all this will be over, now radio in to Carter and tell her Angie has been kidnapped.”

“And George, make it convincing,” Dottie stressed as she slide into the car.

George nodded to himself and waited till the car was out of sight to switch radios. He took a deep breath and called in.

“Peggy, she’s gone, Angie is gone,” George said in a panicked voice into his radio. “I can’t find her anywhere.”

* * *

 

“Ahhh, Miss Martinelli it’s so good to see you again,” Fenhoff laughed darkly, holding up a taser in front of Angie’s eyesight. “I got a taser too, how about a little payback.”

Angie’s head was pounding, all her limbs were sore and felt incredibly heavy. She tried to scream, to kick, she tried everything to get away from the man in front of her to no avail.

“Hold still my dear, this will hurt less,” Fenhoff stepped forward and pressed the taser against Angie’s neck, watching as she convulsed in the chair she was tied to. He held the taser there until the waitress passed out.

“Fetch my tools Underwood.”

****  
  
  



	15. chapter 15

“What happened?” Peggy yelled, grabbing George by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the nearest building, knocking the wind out of him.

“I don’t know, by the time I got here she was nowhere to be seen and all I could find was her purse,”  George coughed, trying to regain his breath.

“Peggy, maybe we shouldn’t do this here.” Howard placed his hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “We’ll go back to the house, lay out a plan and then we’ll find her.”

Peggy shook his hand off of her shoulder and released George. Anger and guilt and fear and despair coursed through her, each fighting to bubble to the surface. Anger won out and Peggy turned on Howard, punching him in the jaw, sending him stumbling back a few feet.

She advanced on him and grabbed the collar of his jacket with one hand and punched him repeatedly in the stomach with the other. “You better hope she is unharmed.”

Jarvis and George grabbed Peggy’s arms pulling her away from the billionaire, who bent over gasping for air.

“Peggy, I know you are upset and I get it, I do but turning on each other is not going to help us find her,” Howard panted, still bent over with his hands on his knees.

“Get out of my sight!” Peggy shouted, breaking free of the hold on her arms. She turned away from them as a few tears fell from her eyes. She wouldn’t let them see her cry.

Both Jarvis and George stepped back for her, both hoping she wouldn’t turn her anger on them next.

Howard nodded in understanding, it was after all his fault that Angie was missing, and pulled George with him to the car. He knew it was best to give Peggy her space and let her think of a plan on her own.

Jarvis approached the shaking agent slowly. “Maybe we should go over the scene, see if we can find anything to help us find out who took her.” Jarvis winced at how detached he sounded.

“I just need a minute Jarvis,” Peggy spoke softly, pressing her head against the cool bricks of the building in front of her. She just need a few moments to think, to calm down, she wouldn’t do Angie any good if she couldn’t think straight.  

Angie. Her sweet, innocent Angie, who’s been pulled in a dangerous world she could barely comprehend. Her Angie is God knows where, having God knows what being done to her and it’s all her fault, she let Angie do this mission, she knew the risk she was putting Angie in but she still let Angie do it, she still let Angie risk her life for her, for Howard.

“Peggy,” Howard called out from behind the agent, rubbing his already bruising jaw. Jarvis placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from getting any closer to Peggy, and shook his head no.

“Go away Howard, I don’t want to talk to you right now,” Peggy said through clenched teeth.

“Peggy, you need to hear this,” Howard urged, holding out a short range walkie talkie towards the agent.

“Go away.”

The walkie talkie crackled to life and a female voice came through it’s tiny speaker. “Peggy, you might want to pick up, I have something of yours.”

Peggy whirled around and snatched the walkie talkie out of Howard’s hand. “Why didn’t you say it was Underwood?”

“What did you do with her?” Peggy asked, trying her best to keep her voice calm and even.

“Nothing yet but that will change if we don’t get want we want,” Dottie answered, her voice sickly sweet.

“And what is it you want?”

“We want Howard and the rest of his inventions or Angie here pays the price.”

“We have to do it,” Howard insisted. “We have to do whatever it takes to save Angie, even if that means trading my life for hers.”

“He is right, we have to get my sister back,” George called from inside the car.

Peggy shook her head no. She wouldn’t trade one life for another, no matter how much Angie meant to her. There had to be another way to save Angie without giving Howard to HYDRA. If HYDRA got there hands on Howard and his inventions the world would pay dearly for that. Angie would never forgive her if she risked hundreds of lives just to save her.

“Clock is ticking Carter, this one time offer expires in one minute,” Dottie’s mocking voice came through the walkie talkie.

“Tell her yes, tell her we will do the trade, my life is nothing compared to Angie’s,” Howard urged. He was going to make things right, he was going to save Angie’s life even if it cost him his.

"How far does the walkie talkie transmit, Mister Shark?" Jarvis asked, looking up at the buildings around them.

"A couple miles, it's short range, why?"

"Well, if it's short range then Dottie and Angie have to be in one of the buildings around here," Jarvis looked to Peggy to see if she was following his train of thought. "If we can stall her, we can search some of these places and hopefully find her."

“I want proof that Angie is alive, let me talk to her and then we can talk about a trade,” Peggy said into the walkie talkie.

“Sorry but your little waitress is indisposed at the moment, maybe a little later you two can have a chit chat.”

“I either talk to Angie now, or it’s no deal Dottie,” Peggy responded.  

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do, give me fifteen minutes,” Dottie agreed then the line went dead.

“Patch my radio into this channel, Jarvis and I will search some of the buildings around here, you two will stay here and keep an eye out of anything suspicious,” Peggy instructed.  

“No!” George shouted as he got out of the car and marched to stand in front of Peggy, with his arms folded across his chest.  “We are not going to risk Angie’s life on a butler’s hunch.”

Peggy sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair. She did not have time to fight with George on this. She needed to search these buildings, she needed to find Angie before something happened to her and right now, she was willing to do anything to find Angie, anything at all.

“Look we don’t have time to argue about this, whether you like it or not, we are doing this, so shut up and get back in the car, patch me in now Howard."

Howard nodded, instructing the agent to turn around so he could get to her radio. Moving Peggy’s jacket out of the way Howard pulled the radio from inside the back of her pants. He quickly change the channel then placed the radio back where it was at.

He stepped back and an unenthusiastic smirk. “Would it be inappropriate to say that those pants fit you very well?” Half heartedly his eyes roamed Peggy’s backside before she turned around to look at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears.

“Howard,” Peggy began, taking in his bruised face and the look of absolute guilt he wore. She felt awful for taking her anger, her despair out on him. “I’m sorry for hitting you, you didn’t deserve it.”

“I’m sorry, what was that? Was that Peggy Carter apologizing to me?” He joked trying to relieve the tension, the worry, the guilt  that has clearly settled on Peggy’s shoulders.

Peggy bolted forward and pulled Howard into a tight embrace, startling both of them. Peggy wasn’t one to seek comfort, even when Steve died she didn’t want anyone to comfort her, she just wanted to deal with her grief alone.

“I can’t lose her Howard, I can’t lose someone else I love.”

“You are not going to lose her Pegs, we are not going to lose her, now get yourself together and go find your girl,” Howard spoke softly but firmly.

Peggy took a deep breath and stepped back, dropping her arms to her side and nodding to Howard. “Right, Jarvis with me.”

“Keep an eye on her Jarvis, don’t let her do anything stupid,” Howard requested, grabbing ahold of the butler’s arm as he tried to walk pass.

“I will Mister Stark,” Jarvis promised.

* * *

Peggy and Jarvis walked two blocks from where Angie was kidnapped, coming across an abandoned hotel. Peggy motioned for Jarvis to follow her as she walked down the alley beside the hotel, looking for a way in.

Jarvis glanced nervously at the road, checking to see if anyone was following them or around as Peggy pulled her blazer off and wrapped it around her fist.

“Stand back,” Peggy instructed as she slammed her fist into the window off the hotel’s lobby, knocking enough glass out of the way for them to fit through.

“Can I ask you something Miss Carter?” Jarvis asked as he helped Peggy up and through the window.

“Yes Mr. Jarvis?”

“Why did you get involved with Miss Martinelli? Surely you knew you were putting her life in danger, why not stay away? Why not keep her safe?” He questioned, shining his flashlight across the dusty lobby. None of the dust looked disturbed, it didn’t look like anyone had been in here for quite some time. He doubted that Dottie was keeping Angie here.  

Peggy didn’t answer right away. Her mind wandered to when she had first met Angie, when she had first gazed into those bright blue eyes that were so full of life and that reminded her of a skinny boy from Brooklyn.

She knew the moment she met Angie that she was a goner, she knew that no matter what she did nothing would be able to keep her from Angie. She knew that caring for Angie put her in danger but when she looked into those eyes and heard that voice every fear and worry melted away.  

Truth was she wasn’t strong enough to walk away. Her, Peggy Carter, who could kill a man with fork, who could take on a whole room of trained government agents, who could do one hundred and seven one arm push ups wasn’t strong enough to walk away from Angie. She wasn’t strong enough to walk away from another chance at love, at being happy.

“People do things against their better judgement when they are in love, surely you can understand that Mr Jarvis.”

He did understand, maybe more than anyone ever would. He had once risked his life to save Anna’s and if needed he would do it again.

“I should have stayed away, I should have left her when you two rescued me for the SSR, they would have written her off as me using her to get what I needed and then she wouldn’t be in this situation but I couldn’t.”

“I don’t think that’s true, the SSR might had written her off but Dottie Underwood and Hydra they would have seen through that and they would have found her and used her against you like they are now.”

Peggy headed up the old rotten stairs, her hand gliding up the dusty railing.

“Be careful Miss Carter,”  Jarvis said as he followed after the agent.

* * *

**  
**“I want proof that Angie is alive, let me talk to her and then we can talk about a trade.” **  
**

Dottie looked towards the sleeping brunette, reached out and brushed some hair out of her face, revealing a nasty cut above her right eye and swollen, bruised lips. Her eyes roamed over the rest of Angie’s body, taking in Dr. Fennhoff’s work. Waking Angie would be no easy task, Fennhoff really did a number on her.

“Sorry but your little waitress is indisposed at the moment, maybe a little later you two can have a chit chat.”

“I either talk to Angie now, or it’s no deal Dottie,” Peggy demanded.

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do, give me fifteen minutes,” Dottie rolled her eyes and tossed the radio on a nearby tray.  

She bent down in front of the younger woman’s sleeping form. Dottie brushed her knuckles across Angie’s cheek lightly. She didn’t want this, not for Angie, not from the sweet girl in 3C. Why did she have to get involved with Carter? Why didn’t she turn around and run when she found out who Peggy really was?

“I’m sorry,” Dottie whispered, this was one order she didn’t want to follow, she didn’t want to hurt Angie. She had come to care for the younger woman in the few weeks she spent at the Griffith.

Dottie sighed deeply and she pulled her hand away from Angie’s cheek then slapped her as hard as she could with the back of her hand.

Angie’s head rolled to the side and she grunted in pain. Her eyes opened slowly, trying to take in her surroundings but her vision was blurry and the lights in the room were too bright, they hurt her eyes. Her head was pounding, every inch of her was radiating pain and she was so damn cold. She blinked rapidly trying to clear her vision. Dottie came into view, smiling softly down at her.

“I need you to tell Carter that you are okay,” Dottie told her as she grabbed the walkie talkie off a nearby tray. “The sooner she agrees to the deal, the sooner this will be over.”

“What deal?” Angie asked, coughing slightly, her throat was so dry.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about Angie,” Dottie replied as she walked to a corner of the room to grab a glass of water.

“What deal?” Angie shouted hoarsely at the blonde.

“The deal to trade you for Howard Stark,” a deep voice answered, coming out of the shadows and into Angie’s line of sight.

Angie recognized the man almost immediately, even without the mask covering his face or his metal arm being visible. He almost looked normal, like a regular guy without his mask and a dark leather jacket covering his arm.

“Barnes, she wasn’t suppose to know what the deal was,” Dottie sighed, shaking her head as she walked to stand in front of Angie. “It’s going to be harder to get her to do what we want now.”

James ignored her and took the glass of water from her hands. He kneeled beside the chair and held the glass to Angie’s lips. “Drink, please.”

Angie nodded her head and James slowly tipped the glass for her as she took small sips of the water. His metal arm came up hesitantly and very softly brushed the hair that had fell in front of her eyes out of the way.

“I’ll get you something to eat soon,” James whispered to the young woman as he stood up.

Angie studied the man in front of her. He didn’t seem like the same man that held her at knife point days before. He was a completely different person, his eyes weren’t cold and emotionless like they had been before, they were soft and showed concern when he looked at Angie. He was surprisingly gentle with his metal arm. Angie wondered if he was this kind before he got involved with Hydra.

“Alright enough, it’s time to call Carter and tell her to agree to the deal Angie,” Dottie commanded, holding the walkie talkie in front of Angie’s face.

“She won’t do it and I am not going to tell her to, I won’t let her risk the lives of millions just to save mine,” Angie vowed.

Dottie contained a sigh and glared down at the younger woman. Of course Angie wouldn’t make it easy for her, she would have to resort to threatening the poor woman. Dottie reached forward with lightening fast speed and grabbed a fist full of brunette hair, tugging it hard enough to get Angie’s full attention.

“You will make the call or I will get Doctor Fenhoff and his tools back in here, understood?”

Angie nodded slowly, her eyes wide with fear. She didn’t want Fenhoff back in here, she didn’t want to be tortured again, she rather die quickly.

“Good,” Dottie released Angie’s hair. “Carter, you there?” Dottie spoke into the walkie talkie.

“Where is she?” Peggy’s voice came through the radio, sounding as cool and as collective as ever.

Dottie clicked the button on the radio and held it out to Angie, motioning for her to start talking.

“English,” Angie sobbed, losing her composter at the sound of the woman she loves voice. She knew that after this she wouldn’t hear that English accent ever again.

“Don’t cry my dear, I will get you back, I promise I will find you Angie,” Peggy’s voice broke slightly. “ I will find you.”

“Peggy, I love you.”

“Enough,” Dottie ordered. “Get on with it.”

Angie nodded as tears streamed faster down her eyes. This was it, she kept telling everyone that if needed that would give her life to stop Hydra and now she would make good on that. She would follow Steve’s footsteps and give her life to save millions.

“Peggy, you can’t agree to this deal, you can’t hand Howard over, you know what will happen if you do,” Angie rushed out.

“Dammit,” Dottie cursed and slapped Angie across the face. “Deal is off Carter, say goodbye to Angie cause that was the last time you’ll ever talk to her.” Dottie threw the radio at the far wall as hard as she could, watching it break on impact.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she growled, grabbing a pistol sitting on the tray next to Angie. Now she was going to have to kill the poor woman. Something she had hoped it wouldn’t come to.

James placed himself between Angie and Dottie. He was not going to let Dottie kill this innocent woman. He didn’t know why but he needed to protect this woman. She reminded him of someone he once knew, someone he once cared for but he just couldn’t remember exactly who that was, the memories of whoever that person was were blurry.   “She’s not the mission.”

“James get out of the way,” Dottie ordered him, motioning with the pistol for him to move.  

“She’s not the mission,” he repeated firmly.

“She became the mission when she sided with them James,” Dottie spoke softly to the man, lowering the gun to her side. “She’s willing to condemn thousands of people to death to save one man, a man who has already killed thousands, it’s our job to stop them, to stop people like her.”

Angie stared at James’s back, watching the way his shoulders slumped in defeat. She couldn’t believe that Dottie, that Hydra had fooled this man into thinking they were the good guy, that they were protecting people.

James bowed his head and stepped aside, mumbling an apology to Angie as he did.  

Dottie pressed the barrel of the pistol against Angie’s forehead. “I hope you know I didn’t want it to come to this, I was hoping that you would save yourself over Stark.”

“Just get it over with,” Angie snarled at the woman, spitting in her face.

Dottie growled and pressed the barrel harder into Angie’s forehead.

Just as she was about to pull the trigger a voice speaking in Russian sounded over an intercom.

Dottie pulled the gun from the light brown haired woman’s head and listened carefully to the voice.

Dottie set the pistol down and picked up a large knife. “Guess it’s your lucky day Angie, Doctor Fenhoff has decided you are worth more to us alive but you still have to pay for what you did.”

With inhuman speed Dottie thrusted the knife into the muscle of Angie’s thigh.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few people have said that Bucky's character in this story is way off from what we see in The Winter Soldier and I totally agree, my Bucky is not the same in anyway. My Bucky has not spent 60 something years under Hyrda's contro, his mind hasn't been wiped God knows hope many times. The Bucky that Steve knew, the fiercely loyal and protective Bucky lies beneath the surface and Angie brings that out. Angie and the way he sees and treats her is very important to his storyline, so just bare with me? 
> 
> Anyways sorry for the long note, on with the story!

The door to the mansion swung open, almost connecting with the wall before Javis reached out to stop it. Pre dawn light filled the foyer as Howard and George stumbled into the home, exhaustion settling into their bones. Peggy followed behind them, her eyes bloodshot, every muscle in her body aching. Jarvis closed the door behind them and watched as Peggy made a beeline for the mini bar in the sitting room.

“Maybe you should get some sleep Pegs,” Howard suggested, taking the bottle of vodka out of her hands and setting it back on the bar. “This isn’t going to do you any good, sleep for a couple hours then we’ll get back out there and find her, I will tear the city apart to find her.”

Peggy’s bloodshot eyes met Howard’s guilt filled eyes. “What if we are too late? What if she is already dead?” Peggy asked barely above a whisper, her eyes filling with tears that she struggled to keep from falling.

“We won’t be Pegs, she’s worth more to them alive than dead,” Howard answered, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into an awkward one arm embrace.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better Howard,” she mumbled into his shoulder. She knew that if Hyrda thought Angie was more valuable alive than they would most likely be torturing her for whatever information they thought she had, and Hyrda was known for their brutal torture.  

“She’s strong Pegs, she can handle whatever they do to her.”

Peggy wasn’t sure what terrified her more, the thought of them killing Angie or the thought of  them torturing her.

Howard pulled back and met Peggy’s eyes once again. “Come on, we need to get some sleep, recharge our batteries then come up with a plan.”

“We can’t do it on our own, we need help,” Peggy stepped back, smoothing her hands down her clothes. “I need to make a phone call.”

“No, no, no, you can’t make a phone call Peggy, there’s no one to help us, we can’t trust anyone right now, we are on our own." Howard grabbed the agent’s arm, stopping her from leaving the room. If she called the wrong person, if she put her trust in the wrong person it could lead the SSR straight to them, and if the SSR found them then there would be no saving Angie.

“There’s a few people we can trust Howard,” She reassured him as she side stepped him and started walking towards the study.

“You can’t call the SSR Peggy, they will just arrest us and Angie will still be out there with Dottie,” Howard yelled after her. “We have to do this on our own.”

Howard rubbed his forehead trying to ease the headache forming behind his eyes. He waited for a reply, or some sort of acknowledgement for Peggy. All he got in return was the sound of the study door slamming. He turned around and grabbed the discarded bottle of vodka then walked to the telephone by the door. He had to make sure Peggy wasn’t calling someone from the SSR.

Peggy sat down behind the desk and kicked her heels off, laying her head on the cool wood of the desk, fighting the urge to break down and cry. Her poor beautiful Angie was in the hands of Hyrda and there was nothing she could do about it. She had no idea where they were keeping Angie, she didn’t even know where to start looking. She just wanted Angie back, she just wanted her safe. **  
**

Peggy took a deep breath, trying to reel in her emotions. She had a phone call to make and she needed to get her shit together. She sat back in the chair and ran her fingers through her hair. Picking up the telephone sitting on the corner of the desk, Peggy dialed an all too familiar number.

The line rang and rang and rang, and Peggy sent a silent prayer to a God she didn’t think was listening anymore that he would answer the phone.

“Hello," a gruff voice said on the other line.

“Colonel Phillips,” Peggy sighed in relief.

“There better be a damn good reason you are risking your freedom by calling me Carter,” the Colonel grunted on the other end of the line.

“So you know?” Peggy asked, mentally preparing herself to be yelled at by the man she served under during World War 2.

“I was the first person they called when they found out that you were helping Stark, wanted me to hunt you down,” he replied. “Even offered me a promotion if I did.”

“Why didn’t you take the offer Colonel?” She was glad he didn’t, the last thing she needed was for the man who taught her everything she knows to coming after her. Then again, if he had taken the offer, Angie would have never been taken by Hyrda, and Peggy would gladly been hung if she knew it would have saved Angie.

“I trusted your judgment Carter, you are loyal to this country, to the world, you wouldn’t risk innocent people's lives.”

“He didn’t sell those inventions Colonel, he wouldn’t destroy all the good Steve did, you know how he felt.” During the way it was no secret to Peggy, to Phillips, to the Commandos that Howard Stark had loved Steve Rogers. It was no secret that the man would give up everything he had ever known for Steve.

Phillips cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the turn in conversation. “Why did you call Carter? I know it wasn’t to convince me of Stark’s innocence”

Peggy shook her head. Somethings never changed, feelings were never the Colonel’s strong suit, talking about them made him uncomfortable.

“I need your help,” Peggy admitted. It wasn’t often that the agent asked for help and it wasn’t easy for her to do so. Peggy prided herself on being able to get by without help from others.

“You are on your own with clearing Stark’s name, Carter.”

“That’s not what I need your help with,” she clarified.

“Then what do you need?”

“I need you to send Dugan to Boston, I need his help retrieving a civilian that has been captured by Hyrda.”

“Why is one civilian more important that clearing your name Carter?” He asked. “Is it a crush or faith this time?”

Peggy exhaled loudly. “It’s love, I love her.”

“Carter, what did I tell you about letting your heart over rule your head?”  He asked, his voice raising slightly.

“That it’s dangerous and it’ll hurt more people than it will help.”

“That’s right and you let your heart rule your head again and put a woman’s life in danger.”

“I just wanted to protect her." Peggy toyed with the cord to the phone. She knew she failed to protect Angie and that was something she would never forgive herself for. She needed Colonel Phillips help not his criticism about her actions or his disappointment in her.

“Margaret,” his voice softened and it threw Peggy off, she couldn’t remember him ever using her first name. “I know you wanted to protect her but things don’t always turn out the way we want and sometimes you have to let go of the things you want the most.”

“I know Sir.”

“Dugan will be there tomorrow night, he will stay with you till you clear your name.”

“Thank you Sir.” Peggy smiled into the phone. Relief flooded through Peggy, if anyone could help her find Angie, it was Dugan. Dugan was excellent at finding Hyrda hideouts and rescuing hostages.

“Carter, do the girl a favor and break things off before she loses her life,”  he spoke softly to Peggy. “There’s no room for love in our line of work, people get hurt, people die if they get too close to us, so end it as soon as you get her back from Hyrda.”

The relief she had felt seconds ago turned to dread. How was she suppose to leave Angie as soon as she got her back? How could she save Angie then turn around and break her heart?

“Sir, I can’t do th-,”

“That’s an order Carter,”  he interrupted.

“Yes Sir,” Peggy barely got out before the Colonel hung up the phone.

Peggy leaned back in the chair and sighed deeply.

“You’re not going to follow that order are you?” Howard asked from the doorway, arms fold across his chest as he stared her down. He wasn’t going to just leave Angie to fend for herself after this ordeal. If Hydra knew that Peggy abandoned Angie after rescuing her then they would kidnap her again because she is Peggy's one weakness and they know that now.

“No,” Peggy answered him, picking at her fingernails. She didn’t like that she was going to end up disobeying a direct order but she couldn’t leave Angie, even if she wanted to. She needed Angie more than the Colonel would ever understand.

“Good, because I wasn’t going to let you,” Howard said as he sat in the chair across from Peggy.

“I should be mad at you for eavesdropping but I don’t have the energy to do so,” Peggy commented, closing her eyes as she rubbed at the back of her neck.

“I had to make sure you weren’t calling the SSR.” Howard stood and walked around the desk to stand next to Peggy. He grasped her forearm and hauled her to her feet. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

“I can’t, I have things to do,”  Peggy argued halfheartedly as Howard lead her out of the study and towards the master bedroom.

“Pegs, sleep,” Howard said pulling back the blanket and top sheet on the bed and pushed the agent onto the bed. “Dugan won’t be here till tomorrow night, so you mind as well rest up.”

“Okay okay,” Peggy mumbled as Howard helped her take her blazer off.

Once Peggy way lying down, Howard tucked her in tightly. “Sleep tight.”

As he turned to head towards the door, Peggy reached out and grabbed his hand, patting the spot beside her with her free hand. “Shut the light and come lie down.”

With a nod Howard did as he was told, kicking his shoes off as he went and unbuttoning the first few buttons on his shirt, he turned the light off then crawled into bed next to the agent.

Peggy fell asleep almost  instantly, Howard however did not. Guilt was eating away at him as he lied awake. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Fenhoff and Dottie might be doing to Angie because of him. Angie did not deserve to suffer for the horrible things he has done, she did not deserve to die because of him.

“I’m sorry Peggy, I’m so sorry,” Howard whispered.

Upon hearing her name, Peggy stirred in her sleep and reached over taking Howard’s hand in her own, squeezing lightly.

* * *

The door to the room Angie was being held in opened and light from the hallway streamed in. Angie squinted as the light broke through the darkness in the room. It had been a couple of hours since Dottie had stabbed her in the thigh. They had left her there tied to the chair and knife still embedded in her thigh.

James flicked the light on and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. In one hand he was carrying a tray with breakfast on it and in the other he had a military issue medical bag.

“Good morning,” James said almost shyly as he sat the food down and started digging supplies out of the medic bag.

“Oh, it’s just freakin’ splendid.”

James stopped what he was doing and just stared at Angie. He wasn’t expecting that much sarcasm and sass to come from someone so small, so innocent looking.

“I’ve come to clean your wounds and get some food in you,” he stated, laying out all the supplies he would need to clean the cuts on her face and sew up the knife wound on her thigh.

“Ahh yes, gotta keep my strength up so I can endure more torture.”

 James looked up at her with an amused smile. Her sarcasm was refreshing. Everyone was so serious around here, there were no sarcastic remarks, no sassy comments. He liked it, he liked her, he just wish he could place who she reminded him of.

“Do you want to eat first or,” he trailed off, waving his bionic hand towards the knife.

“Get the damn knife out of my leg,” Angie hissed at him. “Please.”

She wanted to be mean to him, she wanted to hate him, she wanted to be cold but he looked at her with soft kind eyes and he was gentle, and she felt sorry for him, she felt sorry that Hyrda had brainwashed him, that Hydra was using him.

“I’m sorry but this is going to hurt, a lot,” he said gently as he wrapped his metal fingers around the knife and held her thigh down with the other.

"Couldn't hurt anymore than when it went in," Angie mumbled, remembering the way the jagged edge of the knife felt as it torn through the muscle in her thigh. The worst part about it was knowing that being stabbed was nothing compared to what Fennhoff promised to do to her.

“Are you ready?”

Angie nodded, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down hard on it and squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"One, two, three," James removed the knife as fast and painlessly as he possibly could

"Cazzo!" Angie screamed as the jagged knife ripped more skin on it's way out. Angie continued to swear under her breath as a steady stream of blood came from the wound.

“I have to move your dress out of the way, is that okay?” James blushed a light shade of red as he waited for her answer.  With Angie permission, James hiked her dress farther up her thigh, so he could get to her wound fully.

"Almost done," James grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured some of it on the wound. After dabbing at the wound, he picked up his suture kit and started to close up the laceration.

Angie bit back a stream of profanity as James maneuvered the needle in and out of her skin.

“I don’t think I have ever heard a woman curse as much as you do,” James commented as his skilled hands finished the last stitch.

James placed a gauze over the stitches and stood, walking over to a bowl of water sitting on a table by the door. He picked up a washcloth and dipped it into the water, wringing it out slightly.

“I’m going to clean the cuts on your face now,” he informed Angie as he stepped towards her, stopping just in front of her. He gently grasped her jaw with his metal hand, tilting her head up towards the light.

Angie watched his face as he carefully cleaned the dried blood from the cut above her right eye, much like she had done for Peggy not so long ago.

_Peggy._

Her heart ached at just the thought of the English woman. She was never going to see her again, she was never going to hear her voice or touch her again. She knew she was most likely going to die here once Fenhoff realized she didn’t have anything to offer him. The worst part was knowing that Peggy would never forgive herself for it, know that Peggy would forever carry around the guilt, the pain of her death, just like she did with Steve’s.

Angie closed her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks.

James looked at her with concern and worried filled eyes. He dropped his hands from her face and took a step back. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, no,” Angie whimpered, tugging at the restraints on her hands. She wanted to wipe away her tears but the damn restraints wouldn’t allow it.

“Stop, you are gonna hurt yourself." James stepped forward and gently wiped her tears away. “Why are you crying?”

"I don't want to leave her," Angie whispered looking down at her feet. "I don't want her living with the guilt of my death."

James study her for a few seconds. He did not understand how she could love someone who was willing to let innocent people die to save one man. Peggy Carter went against everything Hyrda stood for. Peggy Carter was trying to destroy countries and she had this poor girl fooled into thinking she was the good guy.

"You shouldn't cry over her, she isn't who you think she is."

The waitress looked up at him with fury in her eyes. "No! She isn't who you think she is," Angie growled. "Peggy is a hero, she would do anything to keep people safe, to keep Hydra from destroying all the good Captain America did."

Recognition flashed in James eyes for a brief second before it was gone but it was long enough for Angie to catch it.

Did he know Steve?

Captain America. James saw a flash of a shield and a skinny blonde haired boy with a bright smile. It was there one second and gone the next, leaving him feeling empty inside.

"Did you know Captain America?"

"I, I don't know, I don't remember." He shook his head slightly, trying to rid himself of the hollow feeling that settled into his chest. He was missing something, missing someone, he just didn't know what or who was missing.

“Did you know Steve Rogers?” Angie asked, watching the man’s eyes for any sign of recognition. If he knew Steve, maybe she could use that to get through whatever brainwashing Hydra did to him, then maybe he would help her get out of her, and just maybe she wouldn’t die here, tied to this damn chair.

“Steve,” James whispered, his heart pounding away in his chest. More flashes of the same skinny boy appeared in his mind.

“Hyrda is against everything Steve stood for James, they aren’t who you think they are, they aren’t the good guys, they have you brainwashed into thinking they are but they just aren’t.”

“No that’s not true, Hydra is protecting the world not destroying it, I’m protecting the world,” James argued, an edge of desperation in his voice. Hyrda couldn’t be anything but what they say, they just couldn’t. If they were then that meant that he was assassinating good people, that meant that he was evil, that he was the one destroying the world.

“They aren’t who you think they are,” Angie repeated softer this time. She just needed him to doubt Hydra’s intentions even if just for a moment. She just needed to get inside his head and make him see what Hydra truly was.

“No!” James yelled at her. “You’re wrong.”  He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Fuck,” Angie mumbled.

* * *

 

Peggy stared at the map laying across the dining room table, rubbing at her temples. She picked up a marker and marked out several places on the map. They had searched four buildings close to where Angie had been taken but there was no signs of Hydra ever being there. They had a whole city to search, and Peggy felt like their time was running out.  Hyrda wouldn’t keep  Angie around forever once they got what they wanted from her.

Jarvis was leaning against the doorway to the dining room, watching Peggy analyze the map in front of her, mumbling to herself. Howard and George had gone to pick Dugan up from a private airstrip and Jarvis had volunteered to stay behind and look after Peggy.

Jarvis entered the room fully, setting the cup of coffee he had been holding down in front of the agent.

“Thank you,” Peggy said with a soft smile to the butler, picking up the cup and taking a small sip.

“Maybe you should rest Miss Carter,” Jarvis suggested. “It’s going to be a while before Mister Stark gets back and it’s best if you are rested when they get here.”

“There’s too much to do Jarvis, too much time has been wasted already,” Peggy sighed and slumped into the chair next to Jarvis. “I fear Angie doesn’t have much time left, we need to find her now.”

Jarvis studied the map of Boston. They had only check buildings close to Miss Martinelli’s abduction but what if they were holding her just outside city limits?

“What if they were holding her away from where they had taken her?” Jarvis asked, glancing over his shoulder at the agent.

“They can not be holding her too far from there, our radios only reach a couple of miles.”

“Yes but what if they were boosting the signal somehow?” Jarvis inquired. “Mister Stark always said that Hyrda has far more advanced technology than we do and that would explain why we haven’t seen any sign of them yet, they could be hiding outside the city or just outside our radios original range.”

Peggy got up from the chair and stood next to Jarvis, looking over the map with him. Boosting the radio’s signal would make sense, it would take days for them to search every building in the radio’s signal range and even then they wouldn’t find Angie if she was being held somewhere completely different.

“You’re a genius Edwin,” Peggy beamed at him as she circled places on the map that Hyrda would most likely be hiding Angie.

“Glad I could help,” Jarvis smiled, bumping his hip against Peggy’s. “I’ll make some lunch.”

Peggy nodded in acknowledgment as he left the room. She hoped Jarvis was right, she hoped that Hyrda was keeping Angie on the outskirts of town, she hoped Angie did not have to spend another night in the hands of Fenhoff and Dottie, she hoped she did not have to spend another night without the actress.

She sat back down in the chair, cradling the cup of coffee in between her hands, taking small sips of the warm liquid. God, she missed Angie. She missed her bright personality and even brighter smile. She missed her touch and her kiss.

She did not know what she was going to do if she was not able to save Angie. She would never forgive herself if she failed the actress.

* * *

 

Fenhoff walked into the room with two guards following behind him. One was holding a towel and the other held a bucket full of water. They moved to stand beside Fenhoff, staring straight ahead, awaiting his orders.

“Hello, Angie,” Fenhoff sneered, walking around her and running a single finger along her shoulders.

Angie arched her back, trying to get away from Fenhoff’s touch. She did not want his hands anywhere near her.

“I’m going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them,” Fenhoff stated, standing in front of her, looking down at her.  

“I’m not telling you shit,” Angie spat. She didn’t care what he did to her, she would not tell him anything he wanted to know. She would endure any kind of torture he thought of before uttering a word about where Peggy and Howard were.

“Oh, you’re going to tell me sweetheart, maybe not at first but once I get started, you’ll tell me everything I want to know,” Fenhoff laughed, snapping his fingers.

The guard on his left handed Fenhoff the towel he had been holding and moved to stand behind Angie.

“Where is Howard Stark?”

“Screw you,” Angie smirked. She wasn’t going to give the man what he wanted, she wasn’t going to break.

The Doctor nodded to the man behind Angie, who grabbed the sides of the waitress’s face and tilted her head up, till she was staring at the ceiling. Fenhoff stepped forward and placed the towel over her face.

Angie’s breathing became ragged as fear crept into her mind and bones. She did not know what was about to happen but she knew it wasn’t good.

There was a snap of fingers and suddenly water was being poured of the towel.

Angie couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, she felt as if she was being held under water. Her nails dug into the arm of the wooden chair she was tied to. Her heart felt like it was going to beat clear out of her chest. Every time she tried to take a breath, her nostrils were filled with water. Her lungs felt like they were burning for the lack of oxygen and panic set into her chest.

Just as soon as it started it was over. The towel was lifted off her face and the guard let go of her head.

Angie began coughing, trying to pull as much air into her lungs as she could. Her tears mixed with the water left on her cheeks as she sobbed. She didn’t think she would be able to go through that again.

“Where is Howard Stark?” Fenhoff asked again, coming back into her line of sight.

Angie opened her mouth, ready to tell him where to find Howard but she stopped and closed her mouth. What would Peggy think of her if she gave in so easily? Would she even be able to live with herself if she just gave in?  Could she live with herself if she just gave up without a fight?

She took a deep steadying breath and locked eyes with Fenhoff. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“You’ll break, they all break,” he stated, snapping his fingers again.

Angie took a deep breath before the towel was placed over her face again, hoping she could hold her breath long enough.

This went on for hours, over and over. Fenhoff would ask her where Howard was, where his inventions was and each time Angie refused to tell him the towel would be placed back over her face.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” Angie asked, her voice low and her eyes fluttering closed every few seconds. She was so tired and so cold, she just wanted it to be over already. She just wished he would kill her and get it over with.

Fenhoff gave her a sinister grin and tilted her head up. “Where’s the fun in that?”

He let her head drop back down and moved over to the fireplace at the far side of the room. He leaned against the bricks surrounding the fireplace and stared into the flames, watching as they changed from orange to yellow and then to red.

“I’m not going to kill you, that was never the plan,” he informed her. “But, I am going to break you, I am going to ruin you, I am gonna scar your pretty little body and your soul, and I am going to brand you that way when Carter comes to save you and everytime she looks at you, she will see what protecting a man like Howard Stark cost you.”

Fenhoff grasped a shiny metal rod and held it up in the light from the fire, inspecting it. He ran his fingers over the six smooth metal tentacles, grinning as he did. This is his favorite part of torturing someone, branding them with the Hydra symbol so that for the rest of their miserable lives they will remember him and their time together.

He placed the branding iron into the flames and turned back towards Angie.

“You won’t get away with this you know, when she finds you she will put a bullet between your eyes,” Angie tired to sound confident, she tried to keep the fear, the pain out of her voice but she failed and Fenhoff’s grin widened.

“I might not get away with this but Carter won’t kill me, she can’t not if she wants to clear Stark’s and her names, I may sit in prison for the rest of my life but she will have to live with the fact that she will never get revenge for the things I have done to you,” he laughed.

Tears slid down Angie’s cheeks as she watched him turn back towards the fire and grab the handle to the branding iron. She watched as he pulled it out the fire and made his way back over to her.

He held the bright red branding iron close to her face and she could feel the heat radiating off of it. She gripped the arms of the chair tightly, trying to keep from shaking in fear.

“Now, where should I place my mark?” He ran his free hand down the side of her jaw and along her collarbone.

“Don’t touch me,” Angie growled.

Fenhoff grabbed a knife from the table next to Angie and cut open the front of her dress.  “Every time you look at yourself in the mirror you will think of me, every time Carter looks at you she will think of me, you two will never get rid of the memory of me.”

Fenhoff pressed the branding iron into the middle of Angie’s chest. Angie’s screams filled the room as did the smell and sound of burning flesh. The pain was unbearable and Angie could feel her consciousness slip away. Her eyes slid closed and her head fell back as she passed out from the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you hate me yet? I haven't even stared on chapter 17 yet, so it might be awhile before it gets posted. Think Angie has had enough? Is it time for Peggy to come save her? Let me know. Thanks for reading guys.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say I am so sorry this took forever to write. A lot has been going on lately, I lost someone very close to me and I have been having a hard time dealing with that. Personally I don't think this is the best chapter, but it's something. I am half way through the next chapter and hope to have it up soon. Thank you all so much for sticking with this story and with me.

“Peggy, I’m home,” Dugan sang as he walked through the front door on the mansion. He dropped his duffle bag by the door and went to search for Peggy. He had missed the English woman more than he cared to admit. He wished she would have stayed with the Commandos instead of going to work at the SSR’s New York office.

Jarvis followed the sound of Dugan’s voice from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel as he made his way to the foyer.

“Mister Dugan, it is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Carter has told me a lot about you.” Jarvis stuck his hand out for Dugan to shake. “ I am Edwin Jarvis, Mister Stark’s butler.”

Dugan gripped the butler’s hand firmly and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Jarvis.”

Howard walked in behind Dugan with George following right behind him. “Ahh, good you two have met, where’s Peggy?” Howard asked Jarvis.

“She’s upstairs sleeping Sir,” Jarvis answered. “I convinced her there wasn’t anything she could do to help Miss Martinelli until you got back.”

“I’ll go wake her up,” George made his way around the trio and towards the stairs.

Dugan reached out and grabbed ahold of his arm, stopping him. “Let her sleep,  y’all can fill me in on what’s going on then when we are done we can wake her.”

The Commando knew first hand how Peggy would run herself into the ground  during a mission. She needed the sleep and he was going to make sure she gets it.

“Alright, point me towards the bourbon and the cigars then we can get started,” Dugan said, taking his bowler hat off and setting on the table by the door.

Jarvis led the three men towards the sitting room on the first floor of the mansion, as far away from the room Miss Carter was sleeping in as possible. From what Miss Carter had told him, Jarvis could expect Mister Dugan to be loud and he didn’t wake to Miss Carter. She needed to be as rested and clear headed as possible for when they rescued Miss Martinelli.

Jarvis set about pouring three glasses of bourbon as the trio took their seats. Jarvis handed each man a glass then brought Dugan a cigar.

“Pour yourself a drink Jarvis and sit down,” Howard told the butler. Jarvis did as he was told and then took a seat next to Howard.

“So why am I here to help rescue one civilian?” Dugan asked around the cigar in his mouth, taking the lighter that Jarvis offered him.  

“She’s not just a civilian, she’s Peggy’s girlfriend and she was helping us take down Hyrda,” Howard informed him.

“And my sister,” George stated.

“Hold up, did you say girlfriend?” Dugan asked, arching his eyebrow at Howard.

Howard nodded with a smile. “I did, they love each other and it is the truest and purest form of love I have seen since her love for Steve, she loves Angie possibly more than she loved Steve.”

“I didn’t think she would fall in love with anyone else after Steve, let alone a woman.”

“Do you have a problem with that?” George asked, sipping his bourbon slowly, fixing the commando with a hard glare. He wasn’t going to put up with anyone judging his sister over who she loved. Even though he wished she had fallen in love with anyone other than Peggy Carter, then he wouldn’t have had to let Dottie take her to prove his loyalty to Hydra.

“I don’t have a problem with that, I just thought she had given up on love,”  Dugan explained. A part of him had hoped she had given up on love. He did not want to her to have to go through losing the person she loved again, because like it or not what Peggy does is dangerous and it puts everyone she comes in contact with in danger.

“Why did Peggy let her come along Howard?” The commando asked. “She had to know that she was putting the poor girl’s life in danger.”

“Miss Martinelli did not give Miss Carter much a choice,” Jarvis answered, leaning forward in his seat towards the commando. “Miss Carter had been arrested by the SSR and they were going to have her hanged for helping Mister Stark but Miss Martinelli risked her freedom, her life to save Peggy Carter’s life. Their love, their need to protect each other goes beyond anything I have ever seen.”

Dugan nodded. Even if Peggy hadn’t been in love with this Martinelli woman, Peggy would have never left her unprotected after she had saved the agent’s life. Peggy protected the people who helped her no matter the cost, it was one of the many things Dugan admired about her.

Peggy was good for the sake of being good, she protect people who couldn’t protect themselves. She wanted to make the world a better place for all the people who lived in it. She deserved to be happy for all she has done and all she will do and Dugan was going to make sure that happened. He would do whatever it takes to save this Martinelli woman, even give his life if it meant that Peggy would be happy.

"Does Peggy have any idea where Hydra is keeping Angie?" Dugan asked.

"Miss Carter and I believe that they are holding her in a building outside the city, we believe that they somehow boosted their radio signal so we would think that they weren't far from where they had taken her." Jarvis answered him again.

"Is that possible?" Dugan asked, looking to Howard.

"It's certainly possible, we have both witnessed the technology that they possess, but if they are boosting the signal, they could be anywhere,” Howard looked down at his hands, fidgeting with the glass he was holding. “They might not even be in Boston anymore.”

If Hydra took Angie out of Boston finding her would be nearly impossible but Howard and Dugan, they would not give up, they were going to find Angie for Peggy.

“They haven’t left Boston,” Dugan stated. He knew how Hydra worked and if they wanted Howard, they wouldn’t leave Boston, wouldn’t leave him not when it would be so easy to take him when everyone’s focus is on finding Angie.

Dugan stood and walked over to the mini bar, refilling his glass. “I need a map of the city.”

“There is one in the dining room,” Jarvis said, standing up and leading Dugan towards the room in question. George and Howard followed closely behind.

The Commando stared at the map, looking over every inch of it before picking up the marker that laid beside it. He marked out the places that Peggy had circled.  “They aren’t going to be hiding in some abandoned building, they will be keeping Angie in a building that has a big enough basement for their operation, it will most likely be a factory, Hydra hides in plain sight."

George studied the man across the table very carefully. How could he in all of five minutes figure out what kind of building Hydra had Angie in? George needed to contact Dottie, warn her and then try to throw them off Hydra’s trail for as long as possible. Fennhoff wasn’t done with Angie yet and it was George's  job to make sure Peggy didn’t come to the rescue until he was.

“What makes you so sure that that is where they are keeping her?” George asked, his arms folded across his chest as eyed Dugan.

“I know how they operate,” Dugan answered, looking up from the map and into the younger man’s eyes.

“And how do you know how they operate?” George questioned. “How do we know you aren’t working for Hydra and are just trying to throw us off their trail?”

“Excuse me?” Dugan boomed, fixing George with a hard glare.

“You heard me. How do we know that you are not working with Hydra?” George did not back down, he couldn’t, not if he wanted to make sure Fennhoff did not kill Angie. If they got to her too soon, she would be killed.

“This is how you know I don’t work for Hydra,” Dugan stood up straight and lifted his shirt, exposing his chest and the Hydra symbol branded into his skin. “Hydra doesn’t brand their soldiers like cattle, they brand the people they capture and torture.”

Silence fell over the room as realization hit Howard, Jarvis, and George of what Angie might actually be enduring. Of course they knew that Hydra would be torturing her, they just never stop to think of how badly it might be. Angie was strong but was she strong enough to survive Fennhoff’s torture emotionally?

“Are you two done arguing?” Peggy asked from the doorway, causing all four men to turn towards her, grim expression on all of their faces. “We can’t look for Angie if you two are at each other’s throats.”

“Sorry Pegs,” Dugan sent her an apologetic smile as he dropped his shirt and moved to pull her into a hug. “Come on, tell me about Angie and then we can start looking.”

Peggy nodded and the pair made their way up to the study on the second floor.

* * *

“Come on Angie, I need you to stay awake,” Fennhoff’s voice sounded hazy and far away to the waitress.

Angie lifted her head and opened her eyes slowly. Pain was radiating from the center of her chest, making it hard to stay awake. Nothing Fennhoff and Dottie had done to her hurt as bad as that brand burning away at her skin.

“Good girl,” Fennhoff smiled at her. “Now I need you to listen carefully, what we are about to do next is very important and if you don’t then all of this would have been for nothing.”

Fennhoff began spinning the ring on his finger and spoke to Angie in a hypnotic tone. “Tell me where you were staying when you first got to Boston.”

Angie couldn’t look away from him, no matter how much she wanted to, no matter how much she tried, she just could not seem to remove her eyes from the evil man in front of her. It was like someone or something was controlling her body, controlling her mind. She was not sure how that was even possible but she had seen enough in the past few days to know that nothing was impossible when it came to Johann Fennhoff.

“Sir, we already know where they are staying,” Dottie spoke up from her spot behind Angie.

Why was he questioning her on things they already knew? What was the point?

“I need to make sure she is completely under my influence,” Fennhoff answered, his eyes meeting Dottie’s briefly before he looked back to Angie. “Where were you staying Angie?”

“Howard’s mansion,” Angie said. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared at Fennhoff’s ring. That wasn’t what she had meant to say. What was happening? She had not endured all that torture just to end up giving Fennhoff everything he wanted to know.

“Where did they hid Midnight Oil?” Fennhoff asked, still spinning his ring.

“I don’t know, Peggy hid it by herself, she said that if only one person knew where it was then it would make it harder for you to find again.”

The door to the room opened and a Hydra agent stepped in, looking behind Angie to Dottie. “He is on the phone for you,” he said then turned and left the room.

“I will be right back,” Dottie announced as she exited the room.

“Do you believe Miss Carter will still come for you?” He asked. He wanted to know how far he had broke her. He wanted to know how much he had damaged her emotionally.

“I hope so,” Angie whispered. “But I’m not so sure anymore, I thought she would be here by now, I thought she would have saved me by now.”

Tears filled Angie’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she continued to stare at that stupid ring. What if Peggy wasn’t coming? What if Peggy had decided that she wasn’t worth the risk? What if Peggy had decided that she wasn’t worth saving? What if Peggy decided that she did not love Angie enough to risk her life to save her?

“They know where we are, they will be here in twelve hours tops,” Dottie called from the doorway.

Fennhoff nodded and smiled at Angie again. “I am almost finished here, make sure a couple of men stay behind, have the rest gather our files and equipment and load them into the trucks, I will be there shortly.”

Dottie gave a firm nod and left to do as she was told.

“See, no need to worry she hasn’t forgotten about you, she’s coming to save you,” He smiled at her again but this time it was more sinister. “So, tell me Angie, has Carter ever scared you? Ever hurt you?”

“Once.”

He was spinning that damn ring over and over and Angie was transfixed once again.

“Tell me about it.”

“She was having a nightmare and I tried to wake her, to calm her down so she could rest peacefully but when she woke she pinned me to the bed by my throat.” Angie could feel that fear from that night again, the fear that had consumed her as Peggy hovered over her and tried to choked the life out of her.

Fennhoff leaned forward in his chair, till he was inches from her face. “From now on, every time Peggy gets too close to you or touches you in any way, you feel that same fear, you feel like she is going to hurt you, kill you, understand?”

Angie nodded her head yes as he leaned back and grinned at her.

Fennhoff reached for a knife sitting on the tray to the left of Angie. He cut the ropes keeping Angie’s hands tied to the chair.

Angie sighed in relief and rubbed one wrist then the other, wincing at the pain the movement caused.

“Now, there is something I need you to do for me,” Fennhoff placed the knife in Angie’s right hand. “I want you to attack the first person that enters the room next that is not me, Underwood or Barnes okay?”

“Okay.”

“Do not leave this room until you have done as I asked.”

“Okay,” Angie repeated.

Fennhoff smiled at her again, reaching forward and brushing the hair off her forehead. He had come to like Angie, she’s strong, she has spirit, she has endured more torture from him than most men.  He could turn her into a great Hydra operative, possibly the best they have ever seen if he did not need her to break Carter.

“Peggy is will be here soon, don’t worry.” He stood and walked to the door, flipping the lights off as he exited the room.

Angie’s grip on the knife tightened as her heart started beating harder in her chest. A cold sweat broke out over her skin as flashes of Peggy leaning over her, choking her flashed across her mind. She could not let Peggy touch her, not again, she might actually kill her this time.

* * *

**  
**“Tell me about her.” Dugan’s voice broke the silence in the study. He looked over at the woman sitting at the other end of the couch, hugging her knees to her chest like a kid would. **  
**

Dugan studied Peggy as he puffed on his cigar. This wasn’t how she was when Steve had died. She had spent her nights drinking with him and the commandos, or with Howard, and during the day she risked her life on the battlefield. She still had fight left in her after Steve died, now it was like Hydra took every ounce of fight she had in her when they took Angie.

“They have already told you about her,” Peggy mumbled staring at the coffee table.

“I want you to tell me about her not them, if I am going to risk my life and storm a building full of God knows how many Hydra agents to save this woman’s life then I want to to hear what she means to you, who she is to you.”

Peggy lifted her head to look over at the man and he smiled at her around the cigar in his mouth.

“She is everything Dugan, everything,” Peggy said softly, reaching forward and picking up Dugan’s glass of bourbon from the coffee table. She lift the glass to her lips and gulped half of it down before handing it to Dugan.

“It was stupid to get involved with her I know, it was stupid to put her life at risk, I was so bloody stupid to think that something like this would not happen,” Peggy took the glass back from Dugan and downed the rest of it’s contents. “I was selfish, I put my wants, my needs before her, before her life.”

Peggy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair with her free hand. She stood and placed the glass back on the table. Walking around the table, she began to pace and Dugan followed her movements with his eyes.

He was not sure where this was going, he was not sure if she was going to break down or start throwing and punching things. He did not know what her emotional state of mind was at the moment and it worried him.

“What if she blames me for getting her into this? What if she blames me for all the things loving me has put her through?” Peggy looked over at him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “What if she does not forgive me for this? What if we are too late?”

“Come on Pegs, you can’t think like that,” Dugan stood and walked over to the pacing woman, grabbing her arm gently and stopping her movements. “I am not going to lie and tell you everything will be fine, that she will be okay, because the truth is she is going to be broken emotionally and physically, you just have to be there for her, help her put the pieces back together.”

“And if she blames me?”

“Then you give her the space she needs to work through it on her own, put her needs before anything else and eventually she’ll come back to you,” Dugan rubbed his hands up and down her arms, trying to give her some bit of comfort.

“But what if she doesn’t?” Peggy looked up at him with fearful eyes

“Enough of the what ifs, we will cross that bridge when and if we get to it, right now we need to go get your girl, so I need you to pull yourself together and help me come up with a plan of attack, can you do that?” Dugan asked.

He could not do this without Peggy, he could not do this if she did not pull herself  to together. He needed her to bury her feelings for the time being and help him save Angie.

Peggy nodded and wiped at the few tears that had fallen from her eyes. She took a deep breath and stepped back from Dugan.

She could do this, she could stop thinking about herself and her feelings and save Angie. She could do this, she could be strong enough to face whatever happened to Angie and whatever will happen, she could put the woman she loved above everything else.

“Let’s do this.”

* * *

Angie stood off to the right of the door, knife gripped tightly in her hand. Her leg was throbbing with pain but she ignore it. She had heard talking outside the door and had forced herself out of the chair and towards the door.

She did not know who was on the other side of the door but she had an order to attack anyone who came in that was no Fennhoff, Dottie or Barnes and she had no choice but to follow it.

She didn’t want to stab anyone, she didn’t even want to be in this room anymore but every time she tried to leave, she got as far of opening the door. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t able to walk over the threshold. Freedom was on the other side of that door and she couldn’t get to it.

The doorknob turned and the door was pushed open slowly. Angie steadied herself, ready to lunge forward and attack whoever stepped into the room until she caught a glimpse of metal fingers. She dropped the knife and leaned against the wall.

“He let you out of the chair?” James asked, turning the light to the room on and stepping into the room.

“Yeah and he somehow made it where it I am physically unable to leave is room.”

“He has an ability to make people do what he wants.” He leaned against the wall next to her, looking over at her, running his fingers through his hair. “Look I’m sorry for yelling at you, it’s just I don’t want to believe that I am actually the bad guy here.”

“You do realize that the people you work for are torturing innocent people, are killing innocent people right? That’s not something the good guys do.” Angie slid down the wall till she was sitting on the ground. The pain in her leg had become too much and she couldn’t ignore it any more.

“Stark has killed a lot of people.”

“So has Fennhoff but at least Howard is trying to make up for his mistakes, he doesn’t want to hurt people anymore, he wants to help them.”

James sat down next to Angie and placed a file on her lap. “You were right, this is the file they have on me, they have been lying to me, using me.”

“I’m sorry,” Angie said as she flipped through the file, not really reading it. She did not want to know all the horrible things he had done. She wanted to help him. He was nice to her, he took care of her after all the things Fennhoff did to her. Underneath all the things Hydra had done to him was a good man, she could see it in his eyes.

“If Stark is truly trying to make up for the things he has done then convince him to help me, convince him to save me, please,” James pleaded. “They are going to wipe my memories again and I am not going to remember any of this, I am going to lose another part of the person I was before this and I am probably going to try to kill all of you, so you have to help me and if you can’t help me, you have to tell them to kill me, I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore.”

He sounded so desperate  and Angie knew there was no way she could tell him no. She would make Howard help him. There had to be a way to reverse what Hydra had done to him and if anyone could figure it out, it was Howard.

“We will do everything we can to help you James.” Angie promised.

“Thank you,” James gave her a small smile and then stood up. “I have to go, thank you Angie.”

* * *

“Alright, we go in in teams of two and three, Howard and Jarvis will be with me that leave you and George together,” Dugan spoke quietly as they all checked their weapons and flashlights. “We clear every room above ground before we enter the basement, there might be civilians in there so watch your fire.”

Jarvis awkwardly loaded his pistol and looked towards Peggy. “Do I really need to carry a weapon Miss Carter, I do not feel comfortable with it.”

“I’m sorry Mister Jarvis but everyone needs to be armed, there is no telling how many men are in there,” Peggy said giving his shoulder a light squeeze.

Jarvis sighed and gave a nod of understanding.

“You can do this Edwin,” Howard smiled encouragingly at the butler. “Do it for Angie.”

“Can’t you three check the floors above ground while Carter and I go straight for the basement?” George asked.

“Look I know she is your sister and I know she means something to everyone here but she doesn’t mean anything to me and that is why I am running things and why we are doing this my way,” Dugan informed the group. “I am the only one thinking with a clear head, I am the only one that is not emotionally attached to Angie in some way, that is why Peggy called me in, now we do this my way or all four of you can sit this out and I will do it myself.”

“Dugan it’s fine, we are doing it your way,” Peggy reassured him, shooting a glare at George. She wasn’t going to sit this out, she couldn’t. She would go out of her mind if she had to.

“Okay, you two will take the left side of the building and we will take the right, clear the first floor then the second and then we will meet up at the basement door, keep your radios on, stay alert and if you get hit, push through we can’t afford to fail this mission.”

“We know that,” George rolled his eyes at the Commando. He was getting impatient and he just wanted to get this over with.

Peggy sighed and pushed George towards the building. “It’s his usual speech okay, he came him to help us, to help Angie and he did not have to George, so show the man some damn respect or you will be guarding the door while we go in and get Angie,” she growled at him and marched passed him.

“Look, this is the third place we have checked, I don’t want to waste time checking every damn room when we only need to check the basement,” George mumbled to Peggy when he caught up to her.

Angie was in this factory and he knew that there were only a few guys in the basement. He wanted to do as Hydra had ordered him and he wanted to get Angie out of there. He did not want to waste any more time.

“I get it, believe me I do, I want to rush in there and find her, I need to rush in there and find her.” Peggy sighed and rechecked that her pistol was loaded, a habit she picked up during the war to calm her nerves. ”But if we go in there half cocked then one of us will get hurt or killed and do you really think Angie wants to have to live with something like that? Do you really think she wants to live with the fact that one of us got killed saving her?”

“Alright we do it his way.”

“Are you guys ready?” Dugan asked quietly as they stood outside the last two rooms of the basement. **  
**

“We’re ready Sir,” Jarvis whispered, gun pointed out in front of him slightly shaky hands.  

“We breach the rooms at the same time, she has to be in one of theses rooms so do not shoot unless you are sure that it is a Hydra agent,” Dugan urged.

Angie had to be behind one of these doors. Dugan could not handle another look of disappointment, of heartbreak on Peggy’s face after they come up empty again. He needed Angie to be in one of these rooms, for Peggy’s sake.

George took his place in front of one of the doors as Dugan did the same. They gave each other a quick nod and kicked the doors in at the same time.

Howard and Peggy stormed into the dark rooms, pistols and flashlights raised in front of them as they scanned the rooms slowly.

Peggy stepped further into the room, catching sight of a figure as it lunged at her, knocking her to the floor and causing her pistol to fall from her hands.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look another chapter and you didn't even have to wait a whole month for it. Thank you guys so much for the reviews on the last chapter, they mean more to me than you could possibly know.   
> I do have one question, would y'all like to see more smut in future chapters?

Angie clutched the knife firmly in her right hard as the commotion in the hall got louder.

_“I want you to attack the first person that comes into this room.”_ Fennhoff’s voice played in her head like a record, over and over.

Her heart rate quicken when the door was kicked in and a figure stepped into the room, flashlight shining from one corner slowly to the other. She took a deep breath and charged at the figure, knocking them both to the ground.

Angie raised the knife above her head as Fennhoff’s voice played in the back of her mind. She plunged the knife deep into the side of the figures stomach as they gasped and tried to kick her off.

 A flashlight shined into her face and Angie shielded her eyes with her hands, scrambling off of the person she stabbed as fast as she could.

"Wait, Dugan don't it's Angie," Howard coughed, grasping the knife sticking out just above his right hip.

"Howard is down," Dugan yelled, searching for the light switch. "Jarvis, get the medic bag from the car."

Angie shaking hand came up and covered her mouth as she let out a sob. She stabbed Howard. Why would she stab Howard? Why would she hurt him?

"Howard," Angie cried softly and she crawled over to him, taking his free hand in hers. "I'm so sorry Howard."

"I will be fine Angie, it's nothing serious," He sat up some, grimacing at the pain. "I am so happy you are okay."

Angie shook her head and squeezed his hand. "I'm not okay, everything hurts and I am so damn scared."

"We're here now, there's nothing to be scared of," Howard reassured her as Dugan looked over his wound.

"Angie," Peggy nearly cried in relief as she stumbled through the doorway. Her bottom lip was busted and bleeding and there was a faint cut on her neck.

Peggy kneeled down in front of Angie and traced her jaw lightly with her fingers before cupping her face and smiling wide at the younger woman. "You're alive."

"You're here," Angie placed her hands on top Peggy's and looked into those brown eyes she missed so much. "I knew you would come."

“I couldn’t leave my best girl behind,” Peggy pressed her forehead against Angie’s, sighing deeply at the contact. She had felt so lost without the younger woman by her side. She had felt like the best part of herself was missing.

_"Every time Peggy gets too close to you or touches you in any way, you feel that same fear, you feel like she is going to hurt you, kill you."_ Fennhoff's voice was in her mind again, whispering to her.

Peggy watched as Angie’s eyes became unfocused and glazed over. “Angie, my darling, are you okay?”

Angie’s eyes widen, her breathing quickened, her palms became sweaty against Peggy’s. She dropped her hands from the agent’s and pushed herself as far away from Peggy as she could.  

All she could see was Peggy towering over her with her calloused fingers wrapped tightly around her neck, with that same sinter smile Fennhoff wore.

“No no no,” Angie repeated over and over, curling in on herself. “Don’t hurt me please.”

Peggy approached Angie slowly, her hands out in front of her, trying to show the younger woman she meant her no harm, that she wasn’t going to hurt her. “Sweetheart, it’s okay, you’re safe, no one is going to hurt you anymore.”

Panic blue eyes meet worried brown ones as Peggy kneeled in front of Angie once more, reaching out slowly, trying not to startle Angie.

“Please, don’t hurt me Peggy, please,” Angie begged her, shrinking away from Peggy’s outstretched hand.

Tears filled the agent’s eyes as she stared at Angie. She tried to not to let Angie’s words get to her but her heart felt like it was crumbling into a million pieces. She should have expected this, should have expected that Angie would think everyone was trying to hurt her, no wonder she stabbed Howard. She was afraid of everyone because of what Fennhoff did to her.

“Angie dear, I’m not going to hurt you, I would never hurt you,” Peggy spoke softly.

“You have and you will again.”

“I.. I.. I never meant to hurt you Angie, you know that,” Peggy stuttered.  She remember that night well. The feel of Angie gasping for breath beneath her, the terror and panic in her bright blue eyes, the way Angie’s nails dug at the skin on her hands, trying to pry them away from her next. She remembered the way Angie had tried to comfort her as if she had been the one whose life was being strangled from her. She had hurt Angie, almost killed her and Angie had every right to fear her but that did not make it hurt any less.

Suddenly Peggy was pushed back from Angie and George took her place, whispering to his sister in Italian, bringing her into a light embrace.

All Peggy could do was stare with shame filled eyes at the sibblings. Shame for hurting the innocent woman, the woman she loved, shame for causing that level of fear in her, shame for hating that George was able to comfort the woman and she wasn’t.

“What she needs, what she needs,” Peggy repeated over and over in her head as she turned to check on Howard after she wiped her tears away.

Jarvis, Howard, and Dugan looked at her with sympathy filled eyes but made no comment on what had transpired between the couple.

“How bad is it?” She asked, hating herself for sounding as if she was about to burst out in sobs at any second.

“It’s not too deep, he will be fine, he’ll probably whine about it for years but he’s fine,” Dugan answered as he placed the last strip of gauze over the wound.

“I am right here,” Howard huffed, folding his arms across his chest as he glared up at the commando.

Peggy smiled at the two men, shaking her head. She had missed this, missed the banter between the two men. It felt normal and normal was something Peggy needed right about now.

“Is anyone else concerned about how easy this was?” Jarvis asked as he packed away the medical supplies.

This was too easy, there was almost no resistance in storming the building, in finding Miss Martinelli. It was like Hydra wanted them to take her but why? Why go through all the trouble of taking Miss Martinelli, trying to trade her with Mister Stark, just to leave her guarded by two men that were easily taken out?

“Why does it matter how easy it was? Angie is safe that is all that matters,” George snapped at the butler as he helped his sister to her feet. Angie leaned heavily against him, trying to take the pressure off her right thigh, gripping James’s file tightly in her hand.

“It matters because there is a reason it was so easy, Hydra never does anything without reason,” Dugan said, leaning down and helping Howard off the floor. “We need to leave now but we need to be careful, they could be waiting outside the basement to ambush us.”

Peggy pulled her pistol from it’s holster, making sure there was a round in the chamber and the safety was off. “I will take the lead, Howard and Dugan will be behind me then Angie and George behind them, Jarvis you will bring up the rear, stay alert, they want Howard and we need to make sure they don’t get him.”

Everyone gave a nod and got into formation. Peggy closed her eyes and sighed, taking just a moment to clear her mind of everything but the task at hand. She could not be distracted right now. She needed to be focused, she needed to get everyone out of here alive and get them all to safety.

Her eyes opened to everyone but Angie and George staring openly at her with concern.

“Maybe I should take point,” Dugan offered.

“No I’m fine, I just needed a moment,” Peggy assured him, glancing at Angie, who was looking anywhere but at her and was clinging tightly to her brother.

Peggy sighed and pushed her feelings down again. “Let’s go.”

Walther PPK leveled in front of her, Peggy peaked around the corner of the door and into the hallway. She stepped into the hallway, slowly making her way towards the door out of the basement, checking every corner she passed. Just because it was clear when they had entered, didn’t mean it was clear now. Someone could have came in while they had been distracted with Angie and Howard.

She raised her closed fist, ordering everyone to stop silently as she reached the staircase. She made a series of hand signals to Dugan, who in returned tapped her shoulder twice, letting her know that he understood.

Peggy walked up the stairs alone, opening the door slowly once she got to it. She swept the area with her flashlight then made another hand signal to Dugan.

Two shots rang out from a high powered rifle, hitting the wall a couple of inches next to Peggy’s head.

“Get back down the stairs,” she ordered as she took cover behind shipping crates, firing two shots blindly at the walkway above her.

“What’s the situation?” Dugan asked, ducking down next to Peggy.

“Shooter on the walkway with a high powered rifle and pretty decent aim,” Peggy shot another round over the crate. “We need to draw him out.”

Dugan held his fist out in front of him, smiling at the agent. Peggy shook her head but put her fist next to his none the less.

She couldn’t help but grin as they played rock, paper, scissors to decide who would be bait and who would flank the shooter. It was just like the time they spent together in the war. This was how they made decisions, they left it to chance.

They pumped their fists three time, eyes locked and looking down at their hands at the same time. Dugan’s smiled fell at his paper and Peggy’s scissors.

“Best two out of three?”  Dugan looked at her with hopeful eyes. He hated being the bait, hated being shot at while Peggy got to take the guy out.

“No time Dugan,” Peggy’s grin still in place.

The commando groaned and peaked around the shipping crate, catching the flash from the shooter’s rifle as he fired another shot.

Peggy gripped Dugan’s jacket and yanked him back behind cover. “Don’t be stupid and get yourself killed, just draw his fire long enough for me to get up on the walkway.”

Dugan just smiled with a light chuckle. He lived for the rush of adrenaline that came with risking one’s life. He lived for the pounding of his heart as he was being shot at, he lived for the sweat that broke out across his skin as he charged at the people shooting at him and he knew Peggy had once lived for the same thing. One did not risk their life the way Peggy, Dugan, and the Commandos did, if they did not enjoy it just the tiniest bit.

“Give em’ hell Pegs,” Dugan beamed as he stood, firing shots at the walkway and running for cover across the room.

The shooter took the bait and fire one bullet after another at the Commando, missing him by just a hair.

Adrenaline pumped through Peggy’s veins as she almost crawled towards the latter across the room. Her heart pounded against her ribcage as shot after shot rang out in the factory. The flashes from the rifle barrel, the sound of bullets hitting metal, the smell of the gunpowder reminded her of her time in the war, of her time with Steve.

Peggy shut her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get sucked up in a memory of Steve. She needed to be here, to be present, Dugan was counting on her, they were all counting on her.

Finally she made it to the ladder, waiting for another burst of gunfire before she started her climb. The latter was wobbly and noisy and Peggy had to stop every time there was a pause in gunfire. If the shooter heard her on the ladder then she was dead, he would have a clear shot at her and he would not miss this time.

If Peggy thought the ladder was loud then the walkway floor was like a fire alarm blaring away in an empty building.

She pulled her pistol from its holster and waited for the flash from the rifle barrel to reveal the shooter’s position.

Another shot went off and Peggy caught the flash to her left. She aimed her Walther PPK just a few inches above where the flash had came from. She drew a deep breath in through her mouth, steadying her beating her heart and her hands.

She waited for the next shot and quickly pulled the trigger of her pistol three time, in quick succession.

“About time Carter,” Dugan yelled from his position on the ground floor.

Peggy rolled her eyes and climbed down the ladder. Dugan met her at the bottom of the ladder and clapped her on the back.

"Just like old times." He smiled, pulling two cigars out of the pocket of his jacket. "Celebrate like old times Carter?"

"Maybe later Dum Dum.” Peggy patted him on his back then made her way to the basement door, opening the door and calling down the staircase. “All clear.”

“We need some help down here,” Howard yelled.

Peggy and Dugan were down the stairs in what felt like a blink of an eye, pistol drawn looking for whatever the threat was. Their eyes landed on the three men kneeling over Angie’s body.

“What happened?” Peggy asked, handing her pistol off to Dugan then pushing her way through the three men, dropping down next to Angie’s head.

“She was freaking out, panicking about Fennhoff coming back for her and then she just passed out,” Howard answered, looking at Peggy with worry filled eyes.

 Peggy reached out to brush damp hair off the younger woman’s forehead when George caught her wrist, stopping her.

"Don’t touch her, she’s scared of you.”

“Just let me make sure she is okay then I will back off,” Peggy promised.

“No.”

“George please, let me do this.”

“Alright.” George dropped the agent’s hand and moved back from Angie, giving Peggy room.

Peggy brushed the hair off of Angie forehead and immediately shrugged her leather jacket off. “She’s freezing.” Peggy draped the jacket over Angie’s chest, tucking it under her then pulled her onto her lap.

Jarvis took his jacket off as well and wrapped it around Angie’s bare legs, rubbing his hands up and down her legs, over the jacket. “We need to get her out of here, I need to assess her injuries, she needs to be bathed and fed.”

“George help Dugan get Howard to the car, then come back for Angie,” Peggy ordered, slowly running her fingers through Angie’s tangled hair.

“I’m not leaving her with you,” George snapped.

“Son, she needs this, just let her have it.” Dugan placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

“Don’t call me that, I am not your son and I am not your friend, I am Angie’s brother, I am her family not you,” George growled, jerking away from the Commando’s hand. “I failed to protect her once but I am not going to fail now.”

“Peggy is not going to hurt her,” Howard stated. “She is safer with Peggy than anyone else and regarding family, Angie thinks Peggy is her family, so it doesn’t matter what you think.”

“Safer with Peggy,” George scoffed. “This is where being with her got Angie, this is where thinking of you as family got MY sister.”

Hurt flashed across the agent’s face and George had to fight off a smile. He was under strict orders from Fennhoff to make this as hard for Peggy as possible, to fight her on every little thing regarding Angie. Once she was completely broken and all her fight had been drained from her then Hydra would make their final move.

“Alright, that’s enough outta you,” Dugan grabbed the back of George’s collar and hauled him to his feet. “Help me get Stark up the stairs before I kicking your fucking ass.”

“If anything else happens to her, you will pay for it.” George roughly slung Howard’s arm over his shoulder and left him up with Dugan’s help.

Peggy looked down at the younger woman in her lap, her eyes roaming over every inch of her perfect, peaceful face. She traced her thumb along her jaw and over her chapped bottom lip. Leaning down she pressed her lips to Angie’s forehead.

“Come back to me Angie, I love you, I am so in love with you,” Peggy whispered peppering the younger woman’s face with soft open mouth kisses. “I need you to remember that, remember that I love you and I would never hurt you intentionally.”

“We’ll figure this out Miss Carter, Mister Stark will find someway to fix this,” Jarvis placed his hand on her arm and squeezed softly.

“I know Jarvis, I just worry about how much more pain, how much more fear she will have to endure until he does.”

“I will take good care of her Miss Carter and I will let you know everything that is going on with her, I will not keep you in the dark,” the butler promised, giving Peggy another squeeze of the arm and a soft smile.

Peggy nodded in acknowledgment and combed her fingers through Angie’s hair, untangling the mess of brunette curls. She continued to whisper sweet nothings to the waitress as she waited for George and Dugan to get back.

Howard has to figure this out, he has to know what to do. Peggy needed him to know what to do. She did not think that she could live with Angie being scared of her for the rest of her life. She could deal with Angie hating her, blaming her for everything that has happened but she could not live with Angie fearing that she would hurt her everything time she got close to her.

“Pegs,” Dugan spoke softly, his hand coming to rest on her lower back as he bent down next to her. “It’s time to move her.”

Peggy instinctively held on tighter to the woman in her arms, bringing her as close as possible. She was not ready to let her go yet. What if she never got to be this close to her again? What if this was the last time she ever got to hold Angie?

She needed more time, she wanted more time. She wanted to memorize the feel of Angie in her arms, she wanted to memorize the feel of Angie breathing steadily so she could get the images of Angie being torture out of her mind.   She just needed more time even if it was just a second longer.

Dugan rub his hand up and down her back, giving her all the time she needed while George tapped his foot impatiently on the step above them.

“Guys, I hate to rush you but there are sirens headed this way,” Howard’s voice sounded in their radios. “We need to leave now.”

“Come on Pegs,” Dugan whispered. “Howard can’t help her if we are caught by the SSR.”

“Okay, okay,” Peggy nodded loosening her grip on Angie. “Take her Dugan.”

Dugan slid his arms underneath Angie, pulling her to his chest and stood. “I got her.”

Dugan carried Angie up the stairs bridal style with Peggy close behind him.

Jarvis picked up the folder Angie had been holding and followed everyone up the stairs and to the car.

* * *

“How is she?” Peggy asked from her spot on the floor by the master bedroom door, when Howard had walked out the room.

Howard sat down next to Peggy with a groan and leaned his head on her shoulder, covering the bandage on his side with his hand. “She’s still out but she’s okay.”

“How bad are her injuries?”

“She had a stab wound to her right thigh, it should heal fine but it’s going to hurt her for a long time, she had various cuts and bruises all over her body but they will heal in no time.”

“What about the bandage that was on her chest? What was that from?” Peggy asked, laying her head on top of Howard’s.

Howard was quiet for a long time, picking at the a loose string on the side of his pants. He did not want to have to tell Peggy that Fennhoff branded Angie with the Hydra symbol. He did not want to tell her that he was the reason that Angie would have to live with that brand on her chest her entire life and he was a coward for, he knew he was.

“What about the bandage on her chest Howard?” Peggy asked more urgent this time, lifting her head off of his and shrugging him off her shoulder.

“Maybe you should go see for yourself.”

They locked eyes for a few seconds and by the look in Howard’s eyes, on his face she knew. She knew what that bandage had been covering.

“No, no, no,” Peggy whispered to herself, scrambling to her feet and rushing into the master bedroom.

“No, you can’t be in here, we already talked about this,” George stopped her from approaching the bed.

“Let go of my arm before I break your wrist Martinelli!” Peggy yelled snatching her arm out of his grip and shoving him out of her way.

Dugan grabbed George’s arm and led him out the room, whispering to him about giving Peggy a few minutes alone with Angie.

She needed to see it for herself. She needed to see if Fennhoff had really branded Angie’s perfect, beautiful skin for herself.

Peggy stepped up to the bed and kneeled next to it, taking Angie’s hand into both of hers. She brought Angie’s hand to her lips, placing a soft kiss to it. She nodded to Jarvis and he slowly removed the bandage covering Angie’s chest.

Just above the swell of Angie’s breasts sat that damn skull and six tentacles. The symbol stuck out against Angie’s skin, raised, red and raw.

Peggy felt like the skull was staring at her, taunting her. It would always be a reminder to her that she was the reason this happened to Angie and every time she looked at it that guilt would consume her. No matter if Peggy killed Fennhoff, no matter how hard she would try to help Angie forget all this, that symbol would always be there, it would always be a constant reminder of the torture Angie went through.

Angie would have to live with the emotional trauma from that for the rest of her life and there was nothing Peggy could do to ever make that better, there was nothing she could do to make that okay.

Peggy reached out with one hand and as lightly as possible traced her middle finger over one of the tentacles. Angie’s body stiffened and a groan escaped from between her lips, causing Peggy to jerk her hand away.

“I'm so sorry Angie. He will pay for this, I will make him pay,” Peggy vowed and looked up at Jarvis. “Is there any chance of infection?”

“No, there is no chance of infection, they took very good care of her wounds, for whatever reason they wanted her alive and we need to find out what those reasons are Miss Carter.”

Peggy nodded and stood, bending down and pressing a kiss to Angie’s forehead, just above the cut there. “I will get right on that, come get me when she wakes?”

“Of course,” Jarvis answered as the agent walked to the door. “Oh Miss Carter, Miss Martinelli had this file with her, do you want to take a look at it?” Jarvis held the file out to her.

“Later,” Peggy said with a wave of her hand as she opened the door. “I really need to talk to Howard.”

“I will leave it here then,” Jarvis placed the file back on the nightstand and started to redress the wound on Angie’s chest.

* * *

“She got in his head, I want him wiped,” Fenhoff watched as a group of men tried to subdue Barnes. “She would have made a great operative.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” Dottie stated. “If we took her again, Carter would stop at nothing to get her back.”

“Maybe but it would be the ultimate torture, having to kill the person you love most in this world or dying at their hands.”

“You can’t wipe love Doctor, all you do is bury it deep in their subconscious, Angie would see Carter and bits and pieces of their time together would come back, it would be a waste of time.”

“I want to keep an eye on her anyways, she may be useful again in the future.” Fenhoff left her there watching the men strap James to a chair.

They placed a leather strap in James's mouth and told him to bite down as they placed a metal helmet with all kinds of wires sticking out of it over his head. They attached more wires to his chest before securing him in place with straps across his chest and legs.

With a quick wave of her hand, Dottie ordered one of the men in the room to throw the switch and turn the machine on.

James’s body tensed as volts of electricity surged throughout his entire body. He bit down harder on the leather strap in his mouth and screamed.

He knew this pain and he knew it well but that did not make it any easier, it did not make it hurt any less. Every nerve in his body felt like it was being set on fire. He could not move, he could not breath. It felt like he was dying and the worse part of it was that he knew that he would feel this pain for as long as he was under Hydra’s control.

Almost as quickly as it had started, it was over. Dottie entered the room and stood in front of him.

“Do you know your name?” Dottie asked.

“James Buchanan Barnes.”

“Do you know where you are?”

“An underground Hydra lab,” he answered.

“And what is Hyrda?”

“A secret government agency tasked with protecting the world from threats to humanity. An agency tasked with stopping evil before it has a chance to start.”

“Correct James,” Dottie smiled at him. “And you are our greatest asset.”

 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so so so sorry this took forever to be posted. School and work keep getting in the way of writing. Oh, and I am sorry for making some of you worry, I'm okay. I'm doing great actually. I just started on the next chapter but I got a good chunk of it written, so hopefully it won't take too long to get out.
> 
> Thank you all so much for sticking with this story and the lack of updates the past couple of months. I will try to do better on that. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I hope you are all doing good.

Peggy took the stairs to the basement two at a time. She had spent the last fifteen minutes searching the first two floors of the mansion looking for Howard. Honestly, she did not understand why Howard needed so many rooms in one house, it’s not like he even used them all. 

Frustrated, she ran her fingers through her hair. If Howard and Dugan weren’t in the basement and had ran off to God knows where to get drunk, she was going to kill them when they got back. 

She pushed the door to the basement open and catch sight of both men. “There you two are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” 

Peggy stopped mid step and stared at the two men with a raised eyebrow. 

Dugan was sitting on top of a table, his shirt unbuttoned and opened with Howard’s hand on his chest. 

“What are you two doing?” Peggy asked, a smirk forming as they both flushed red and jumped away from each other. 

“Uh, Stark wanted to see how my branded healed so he could figure out someway to cover Angie’s,” Dugan answered, his voice suddenly deeper than normal as he buttoned his shirt back up. 

“We have more pressing issues than that,” Peggy hopped up onto the table next to Dugan. “Hydra was keeping Angie alive and we need to figure out why.” 

“Whatever they did to her, they did it to get at you Peggy,” Dugan said, tucking his shirt into his pants then picking up his cigar. 

“We need to know exactly what they did to her, she has to take us through everything they did.” Howard packed some medical supplies into a duffle bag to take up to Jarvis. 

“I can not make her relive that Howard, I won’t.”

“He’s right Peggy, we have no choice.” Dugan placed a comforting hand on the agent’s shoulder. “And talking about it might help her.” 

Peggy shook her head no. She did not see how making Angie relive every horrible thing Fennhoff did to her would help. She did not want to make her relive those things. She just wanted to help her heal and move on. How could Angie heal and move on if they made her tell them every little detail of what happened while she was captured, while she was tortured? 

“We’ll ask her,” Howard offered. “We will ask her if she is willing to talk about it, we will give her the choice Peggy, we won’t force her to do it.”

“Fine but only if she agrees Howard, without hesitation and the second it becomes too much for her-,”

“I’ll stop Pegs, I will take care of her, I won’t make things worse for her,” Howard interrupted. 

Peggy pushed herself off the table and walked towards the door. “I need to lay down, don’t question her until I talk to her,” she ordered. 

Howard and Dugan watched her walk up the stairs in silence until she disappeared out of sight. Howard turned to look at Dugan, handing him the bottle of bourbon from the table. 

“What do you think they did to her?”

“There is no way to tell,” Dugan answered, taking a heavy pull from the bottle in his hand. 

“But you have been through what she has, you have to have some idea of what they did to her,” Howard argued, taking the bourbon from him. 

“Every case of torture is not the same Howard, we were not tortured by the same people.” Dugan blew a cloud of smoke towards Howard, causing him to cough and step back some. “My torture was purely physically but Fennhoff’s style could be emotional, or physical, or both, there’s no way of knowing till we talk to her about it.” 

Dugan held his hand out for the bottle, gripping it tightly when Howard handed it over. He hoped and prayed that they didn’t do to Angie what was done to him. He still remembered every single detail of the things they did to him. He remembered every smell, every sound, every painful touch, sometimes the memories kept him up at night. 

He knew that Angie would never get over the things Fennhoff did to her. He knew she would live with that pain for the rest of her life. He knew that some nights she would wake up screaming because she can still feel that brand burning away at her skin. He knew that no amount of comfort, no amount of time would ever heal her emotional wounds.

“Could there be a chance she will not remember any of it?” Howard asked, hopeful.

He did not want her to remember. He did not want her to have to live with those memories. He wanted her to be able to live as normal of a life as she could. Being with Peggy did not make living a normal life easy but Angie deserved one. She deserved to be safe and happy. She deserved to live without fear of Fennhoff and Hydra, and Howard would do anything to give her what she deserved.   
“It’s possible,” Dugan answered, refusing to tell him that Angie would remember everything. 

He did not have the heart to break it to Howard. He was so hopeful and Dugan thought he should remain so. They needed hope to face whatever would happen when Angie woke up. They needed hope to face whatever else Hydra threw at them. Hope was everything in times of uncertainty. 

 

Angie stirred, her hands reaching out across the silk bed sheets. 

Silk? 

Angie sat up quickly, a little too quickly causing pain to radiate from her chest. Where was she? Her breathing and heart beat speeding up as she looked around the bedroom. 

Her eyes landed on George slumped over in a chair asleep and she took a deep steadying breath, relaxing. She was safe. They had rescued her and Fennhoff could not hurt her anymore. 

The door opened and Jarvis walked in carrying a tray of food. He looked up at Angie and smiled brightly at her. “Miss Martinelli, shall I go get Miss Carter?”

He placed the tray with a bowl of soup on it next to Angie on the bed. Normally he would object to eating in bed but he supposed allowances could be made in Angie’s case.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t been camped out in here,” Angie picked the hot bowl of soup up, along with a spoon. “I would really like to see her.”

“She thought it would be best to give you some space after what happened earlier,” Jarvis explained and Angie looked at him clearly confused. “You do not remember what happened, do you?”

Angie shook her head no. “All I remember is Fennhoff leaving me alone in that room, then James coming to see me and giving me a file, I don’t remember anything after that.”

“Who is James?” 

“It. doesn’t. matter. I. will. explain. later,” Angie said in between spoonfuls of soup. “Can you get Peggy please, Mr. Fancy, I really need to see her.”

“She’s asleep,” George called out from his place in the chair, eyes still closed. 

“Oh,” Angie’s voice was lined with disappointment, frowning deeply into the bowl of soup. “That’s probably for the best, I’m sure she has been running herself into the ground looking for me.”   
“She wanted to know the second you woke up, I will go get her,” Jarvis turned back towards the door and stepping into the hallway. 

Angie called out to him, stopping him from getting too far down the hall. “Mr. Fancy, thank you for taking care me and cleaning me up.” 

“I did not do it, Mister Stark did.” 

The look of absolute horror that crossed Angie’s face cause Jarvis to laugh so hard that his stomach hurt. 

Angie stared at him, a shock expression on her face. She had never heard the butler laugh. He was always so well put together, only ever cracking a smile whenever someone had made a joke and here he was laughing so hard his eyes watered. 

“I am so relieved that you are okay Miss Martinelli, things around here have not been the same without you,” Jarvis wiped away his tears and stood up straight, smoothing out his suit. “Miss Carter has not been the same without you.” 

With one last smile to the waitress, Jarvis turned on his heels and went in search of the sleeping agent. 

George stood up and walked over to the bed. He took the now empty bowl out of Angie’s hands and placed it on the nightstand. He pulled her up and into a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you too George but you’re hurting me,” Angie groaned, pushing him away some. 

“I’m sorry, i just thought I would never see you again.” He brushed a stray hair behind her left ear and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

“Peggy would have found me no matter what, she will always find me,” Angie told him, no hint of doubt in her voice.

“That’s right dear, I will always find you,” Peggy said from the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the door frame, trying to give Angie as much space as needed incase she freaked out again. 

George stepping out of the way, allowing Angie to be able to see the agent. 

Angie grinned at Peggy. “What are you doing way over there Pegs? Get over here and kiss me.” 

Peggy stepped forward slowly, hands in clear view to keep from startling the waitress. Her steps faltered as Angie’s body language started to change. 

She watched as Angie’s grin fell from her lips and as she gripped her brother’s hand tightly. She watched as fear overtook Angie’s body and mind. She watched as Angie’s blue eyes widened and her breathing picked up. 

“Please, please don’t hurt me,” Angie begged, clinging to George.

Peggy dropped her hands to her sides and took a step back towards the door, doing everything in her power to keep herself from crying out at the level of fear on Angie’s face. She thought Angie asking for her was a good thing, she thought it meant that Angie wasn’t scared of her. She thought it meant that everything would be okay. 

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Peggy whispered as she backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. She leaned across the door and took a deep breath.

“Georgie, why am I scared of her?” Angie asked looking up at him with sad blue eyes. 

She did not understand. How could she be scared of Peggy? How could she think for one second that Peggy would hurt her, even when she knew that Peggy wouldn’t. 

She had always felt safe with Peggy, protected with Peggy. Even when that SSR agent was shooting at them after breaking Peggy out of the SSR’s custody, she felt safe. Even when the SSR agents stormed George’s house she felt safe. And even when James had held her a knife to her throat, cutting into her skin she felt safe because Peggy was there and she knew that Peggy would protect her. Peggy could always protect her, so why was she so afraid of her? 

“I don’t know Ang, I don’t know,” George lied, rubbing his hand up and down Angie’s back. 

Howard burst through the door, panting slightly and holding onto his wounded side with a grimace. Running all the way from the basement had not been a good idea. He was pretty sure that he almost ripped his stitches open but he didn’t care, he had to see if Angie was okay, he had to see if she was still afraid of Peggy. 

“How are you feeling Angie?” Howard asked, taking a seat at the end of the bed. 

“Scared of Peggy and I don’t know why,” Angie grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest. “What’s wrong with me Howard?”

“I’m not sure but I’m going to find out, I just need to know what they did to you and I know it is going to be hard to talk about but it is the only way that I can figure all this out.” 

“No,” George barked, shaking his head at Howard. “There is no way that I am going to let you make her relive what happened to her.” 

“It’s the only way,” Howard sighed, smoothing his finger through his hair. “If we do not do this, if I don’t figure out what they did to her then she will always be afraid of Peggy.”

“I don’t care if she is scared of Carter, I care about her being safe and being here with Carter and with you is not safe,” George said. “As soon as she is healed, we are leaving, we are going back to New York, we are getting far away from you and Carter.” 

“You can’t just run away from this Geroge, you can’t just take her away from Peggy and expect everything to go back to normal,” Howard argued. “If Hydra wants her again they will find her, no matter where you take her, you can’t protect her alone and you know that.” 

Angie sighed and massaged her temples, feeling a headache setting in as the two men continued to argue about whether she was staying or leaving. It had not occurred to them to ask her what she wanted to do. She did not want to leave Peggy, while she might be scared of her, she still loved Peggy, she was still in love with her and did not want to be without her. 

She could relive every horrible thing Fennhoff did to her if it meant that she would not be afraid of Peggy anymore, if it meant that she could look at Peggy and not see her hands wrapped around her throat. She could do this, she could be brave enough to face everything that happened to her over the past few days. 

“Enough!” Angie yelled at the two men. 

Both men turned to look at her as if they had forgotten that she was still in the room with them. 

“I will do it, I will do whatever it takes, just later, I want to rest for a bit,” Angie said as she laid down on her side, still hugging the pillow to her chest. 

“Angie, think about this for a second, reliving those things might do more harm than good,” George tried to reason with her. He wanted, he needed to get her out of here and away from Peggy before something else bad happened to her, before Fennhoff decided that he needed to use her to get at Peggy again. 

“I am doing this George, now both of you please leave the room.” 

“I will be back later, we will go as slow as you need to,” Howard stood, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. “ I promise I will figure this out.”

“I know Howard, you won’t let Peggy down.” Angie gave him a small smile as he pulled the comforter over her. 

“I won’t let you down either Angie,” Howard promised as he and George left the room, shutting the door behind them. 

 

Howard flopped down on the couch in the study, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It was well past one in the morning and he had spent most of the night going over the things Fennhoff had done to Angie in the first night they had her. 

He knew Hydra was evil but Fennhoff took it to a whole other level. He was far worse than the Red Skull and every other Hydra villain Howard had seen. Fennhoff was a sadist through and through. He had enjoyed every bit of pain he put Angie through and that killed Howard inside, knowing that it was his fault. 

Peggy made her way into the study, swaying slightly and clenching a bottle of scotch in her hand. She stumbled to the couch and threw herself down next to Howard, causing some of the scotch to slosh out of the bottle and onto Howard’s legs. 

“How much have you had to drink?” Howard asked taking the bottle from the agent and setting in on the coffee table in front of them. 

“I don’t member,” Peggy’s words slurred as she tried to lean forward and grab the bottle of scotch from the table. 

“You have had enough,” Howard pushed the bottle farther away and pushed Peggy back into the couch. “I need you sober, I need your help to figure this out.”

Howard stood up and held his hand out to Peggy, pulling her up off the couch. “Come on we need to get some coffee in you.” 

Peggy nodded and allowed Howard to lift her left arm and place it around his shoulder. She placed most of her weight on him as they stumbled down the hallway towards the stairs.

They stopped at the top of the stairs and stared down before looking at each other. Both of them knew there was no way Howard could help her down all those steps without both of them falling and getting hurt, and there was no way Peggy could make it down herself, she had had too much to drink.

“You two are going to kill yourselves,” Dugan appeared out of nowhere, cigar between his teeth and glass of bourbon in hand. 

“Ssshut up and help me down stairs,” Peggy slurred, removing herself from Howard’s side. 

Dugan rolled his eyes at the drunk woman and passed his glass to Howard. He scooped the drunk woman up with practiced ease and made his way down the stairs slowly, with Howard following right behind him. 

Peggy wrapped her arms loosely around the commando’s neck, allowing him to carry her to the kitchen. This wasn’t the first time Dugan had carried her when she was drunk. He took care of her drunk ass a lot after Steve died. She probably would have gotten herself killed not long after Steve was gone, if it had not been for Dugan. He had saved her in a lot of ways and she would always be grateful for his friendship. 

Dugan sat Peggy down in one of the chairs around the small table in the kitchen as Howard set about making a pot of coffee. 

Two hours and four cups of coffee later, Peggy had sobered up enough to help Howard come up with a plan to help Anige. Not that they had gotten very far, Peggy was too busy pressing Howard for information on what Fennhoff did to Angie. 

Howard was reluctant to tell her. He felt that Angie should be the one to tell Peggy what she had went through. It was not his place to share the horrible things that Angie had to go through. 

“How are we going to fix this Howard?” Peggy asked, giving up on finding out what happened to Anige. 

“I don’t know yet Pegs, I need more time, you can’t expect me to have it figured out in a day,” Howard reached forward and placed his hand on Peggy’s. “It’s going to take time and it’s going to be hard on both of you.” 

“She asked for me, she asked for me Howard and I let myself believe, I let myself hope that she wouldn’t be afraid of me anymore and that it was just that place that had her scared but it wasn’t, it’s me,” Peggy gripped her coffee tighter as she stared into the black liquid. “She’s scared of me and that fear in her eyes when she looked at me destroyed me.” 

‘Destroyed,’ Peggy thought was an understatement. The look of fear in Angie’s eyes felt like someone has taken a dull knife and slowly cut away every inch of her heart. 

“I know it hurt you Peggy, but you have to think about what this is doing to her, she’s scared and hurting just as much as you are.” 

“Maybe I should just let her go like George said, if she isn’t around me she wouldn’t be scared.” 

“You mean just give up?” Howard asked, his voice rising along with his anger. He couldn’t believe that Peggy thought that giving up on Angie, on their love was the best thing to do. If Peggy couldn’t have a chance at real love, how could he ever hope to? 

“No, not give up, give her what she needs.”

“You don’t know what she needs Peggy, and neither does George , the only person who knows what Angie needs is Angie, and Angie, she wants to stay, she wants to give me the time to figure this out because, she loves you and does not want to live without you, she’s not giving up Peggy and neither should you.” Howard pushed his chair away from the table forcibly and stood. “I can’t believe you are giving up on her so easily.” 

Howard stopped at the doorway and turned back to look at the agent. “Everything that has happened to her is because of us, you and I are the reason she is in this and the least we could do is everything in our power to fix this, to protect her, because, no matter what Fennhoff did to her, she did not tell him anything, she was determined to keep us safe even if it cost her her life, we owe it to her not to give up on her, on the two of you.” 

With that Howard turned on his heels and walked away. Peggy pressed her forehead into the cold hardwood of the kitchen table and bit back a scream. She knew Howard was right, she owed Angie everything. They would be dead or worse if Angie had broken and told Fennhoff everything he wanted to know. 

Peggy would not give up on Angie. She would give Howard the time he needed to help Angie but if at any point Angie decided that she wanted to leave then Peggy wouldn’t stop her.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone had an amazing holiday and I hope you got everything you wanted. Sorry this took so long, I've been busy and just plain lazy but it's up now! Thank you guys for sticking around, I know I am not the best at updating on a regular schedule but it does mean a lot that you guys have not given up on this story yet, or me. I wish each and every one of you the best in the coming year.

“He came back into the room with two men, they were holding a towel and a bucket of water.” Angie gripped Howard’s hand tightly as she spoke. “One of the men held my head in place as Fennhoff draped the towel over my face and then they poured the water over the towel.” 

Howard reached forward with his free hand and wiped away the few tears that had escaped from Angie’s eyes. He hated making her talk about the things Fennhoff did to her. He hated making her cry as she described the torture she endured. 

“I couldn’t breath, I felt like I was drowning, like I was dying and honestly Howard, at that point I would have welcomed death, I begged him to kill me, to end it all,” Angie whispered looking down at the bed they were sitting on. She couldn’t look him in the eyes. She felt weak for wishing that Fennhoff had killed her. She felt weak for giving up so easily. She was ashamed.

“Look at me.” Howard placed two fingers under the waitress’s chin and lifted her chin up until their eyes meet. “I would have broken, I would have told him everything he wanted to know, I would not have lasted half as long as you did. You were strong Angie and you were brave, you are probably the bravest person I know and I am proud to call you my friend, Peggy is proud of you and Steve, he would have been proud of you too.” 

He took note of the way Angie’s body tensed at the mention of Peggy. 

Howard kissed the top of Angie’s head and stood. “I think we have gone through enough for today, how about a drink?”

Angie nodded her head yes and gave the man a small smile. 

“And how about we get you out of this room and get a little fresh air?” 

“That would be great.”

Howard held his hand out to Angie, lacing their fingers together. He helped Angie off the bed, allowing the waitress to lean all of her weight on him. Angie’s leg was healing nicely but Jarvis had warned them time and time again not to slow the healing process by putting too much weight on it too soon. 

Angie quickly grabbed James’s file from the nightstand, tucking it under her arm. She had not had a chance to talk with Howard about James, but now would be the perfect time. She had to get him to agree to help James, and if she got him to agree to do it, he could get Peggy to agree to help as well. She had made a promise to James and she would do everything in her power to keep that promise. 

Howard led them out of the master bedroom and down the hall, past the staircase, much to Angie’s surprise. She had expected him to lead them down the stairs and out the front door. 

“Where are we going?” She asked, wincing slightly with every step. Even with little to no weight being put on her right leg, pain still radiated from the cut. 

“To my favorite part of this house,” Howard spoke with a smile as he pushed the door in front of them open, taking a few steps just inside the door. 

Angie looked around the room in awe, with her mouth hanging open slightly. Every inch of wall space in the room was covered in books, except for the space where a beautiful marble fireplace stood. There had to be at least a thousand of them. Angie had never seen so many books outside of a library. She wondered if Howard had even read half of the books in this room. 

“Wow,” Angie breathed as Howard led her along one wall towards giant glass double doors, allowing her to run her fingers over some of the books. 

“I know, it’s nowhere near as big as the library I have in New York but it does the trick.” 

Angie wanted to smack him in the back of the head. How could he not be amazed by all these books? Sure, they were all his but how could someone not be awestruck by them? Angie wasn’t a big fan of books but even she could spend months in this room, reading book after book, curled up with a hot cup of tea in front of the fireplace. 

“Reading is one of my favorite pastimes, I could spend days in here just reading.” He looked over at her out the corner of his eyes, watching for any sort of reaction for what he was about to say. “Peggy spent a long time in here last night, she’s fond of mystery novels.” 

Angie’s body tensed for a few seconds as her eyes darted around the room, looking for any signs of the agent before relaxing again. “She wears these black framed glasses sometimes when she reads and they look really good on her.” 

Howard nodded to himself as he opened one of the glass doors. Angie only seemed to fear Peggy the most when they were in the same room together. He hoped that that information would be of some use in helping Angie get over her fear of Peggy but he still did not know what caused her fear in the first place. 

They stepped out onto a small balcony overlooking a huge garden filled with all different types of flowers. Howard walked Angie to the metal railing that enclosed the balcony. 

Angie gripped the railing tightly with one hand and stared down at the flowers, that Jarvis undoubtedly had picked out and planted. 

Yellow jasmine climbed up white lattice, creating an archway at the entrance of the garden. In the center of the garden was a fountain, filled with what appeared to be fish but Angie could not be sure from her position on the balcony. Pink and white roses took up most of the space in the garden, all different colors of hibiscus and lilies filled the rest of the garden. 

“Who takes care of this while you are gone?” Angie asked, turning to look at the billionaire. 

“A gardener comes by every other week to care for them.” He answered, helping Angie to one of the lounge chairs spread out along the balcony. “What would you like to drink?”

“Whatever you are having.” Angie sat James’s file down beside her chair before getting comfortable, propping her feet up on a footstool with Howard’s help. 

“Wanna talk about that?” Howard asked pointing to the file. 

“Not just yet.” 

Howard gave her a small nod and stepped back into the mansion to pour them some drinks. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Peggy leaning against the doorframe to the library, arms crossed over her chest and gazing at Angie with that same look of sadness on her face as she wore last night. 

“How is she?” Her voice was low enough that Angie couldn’t hear and her eyes never left the waitress. 

Howard considered pouring the agent a drink but decided against it. She had drank enough for three people last night and the last thing Howard needed was for her to become dependent on alcohol. 

“Scared but more confused than anything, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” she lied and Howard knew she was lying to him but he didn’t push it. If she wanted to talk, she would talk to him once she was ready. 

Howard watched Peggy watch Angie. He could see the fear of losing Angie in her eyes. The pain she’s in is so clearly written on her face. She was usually better at hiding what she was feeling but Howard guessed everything went out the door when it came to Angie. He wished he could somehow magically make whatever was happening to Angie go away. He couldn’t bare to see Angie and Peggy suffering anymore. 

“I knew from the minute I laid eyes on her, that she would break my heart.” She spoke barely above a whisper but Howard had heard her and before he had a chance to say anything, she turned on her heels and walked away from him. 

Howard sighed and poured two glasses of wine and turned the radio by the balcony on, just loud enough for them to hear. 

He walked back outside, a glass of red wine in each hand. He sat down in the chair closest to Angie and handed her one of the glasses. 

“How are you going to fix me?” Angie asked, sipping her glass of wine, her eyes closed and her head nodding slowly along with the music floating out from inside the library. 

“We’re not fixing you Angie, you are not broken but I haven’t decided just yet, I need more time.” 

Angie ran her fingers over the bandage on her chest. “I feel pretty broken,” she whispered more to herself than Howard but he heard. 

He looked over at her and squeezed her arm lightly. “I’m working on a way to cover that up and the scar on your thigh, I’ll do everything in my power to get you back to the way you were before.” 

Angie nodded and sipped her wine, looking out at the garden. 

They were silent for awhile, just letting the alcohol wash over them as they listened to the music pouring from the radio. Howard studied Angie over the rim of his glass. She looked peaceful, with a small smile playing at her lips as her hair blew slightly in the wind. She was beautiful and Howard got what Peggy saw in the waitress. It was more than just her beauty though, it was the person she was underneath that beauty. 

He would never be able to make up for the pain that his inventions had caused Angie. He would never be able to make up for all the torture Fennhoff had put her through because of him but he could spend the rest of his life trying to. 

“Angie,” he started but Angie raised her hand up to silence him.

“You don’t have to say anything Howard, and you don’t need to make anything up to me, I knew what I was doing when I agreed to go on that mission, I knew I was putting my life on the line but I did it anyways because if we don’t stop Hydra then who will?” 

“But this is all my fault,” Howard argued. 

“This is Hydra’s fault Howard, and if you really wanna make it up to me then help me with this.” Angie picked up James’s file and handed it to the billionaire. “Help him, he needs our help before Hydra completely destroys him.” 

“Okay,” Howard said with a nod, opening up to the first page of the file. 

Paperclipped to the top right of the file was a small worn picture of a smiling James in his uniform. Howard ran his finger over the picture, his brows knitted together. How could he help James if he was already dead? 

“How did you get this file?” 

“James gave it to me before you rescued me,” Angie answered, never taking her eyes off the garden. The butterflies flying just above the flowers put her at ease, relaxed her in a way that she hasn’t been for days. Everything almost felt normal.

“That’s not possible Angie, Bucky died during the war.”

“No, he didn’t,” Angie turned to Howard, confusion clearly written on her face. “He’s not dead Howard, I’ve met him, he saved my life when Dottie tried to kill me.” 

“That’s not possible Angie, I’m sorry but James Buchanan Barnes died while on a mission with Steve, he fell from a moving train into an icy river, there is no way he survived.” 

Angie reached over and flipped to the last page of the file that held a picture of James now in full Winter Soldier gear. “He’s the Winter Soldier but he’s not all bad, he protected me, fed me, cleaned my wounds, the real James is still in there, underneath whatever Hydra did to him. He needs our help Howard, we are the good guys, it is our duty to help him.”

Howard studied the picture of the Winter Soldier. He had the same big brown eyes as Bucky. Howard wasn’t convinced that Bucky was alive and under Hydra’s control but Angie was so sure and he owed it to her to look into the matter. 

If it did turn out that Bucky was alive and under Hydra’s control, he would do everything he could to save Bucky not just for Angie but for Steve. 

Howard stood from his chair, file held tightly in his hand. “I need to talk to Peggy about this, she knew Bucky better than I did.” He rushed back into the house, almost tripping over his own feet, without another word to Angie. 

Angie stared after him, debating with herself on whether or not to follow him. She wanted to know what Peggy had to say about James being alive after they had presumed him dead but she knew she couldn’t be in the same room as her without freaking out. 

Angie sighed and downed the rest of her wine then picked up Howard’s discarded glass. She would just have to wait here until Howard was finished talking to Peggy. 

 

Howard raced down the steps leading to the first floor of the mansion, in search of Peggy. He needed to find her, not to just talk to her about Bucky maybe being alive and in the hands of Hydra but also to make sure she was okay, or as okay as one could be when the person they loved was terrified of them. 

The comment that she had made about knowing that Angie would break her heart when she had first met her, had worried him. Peggy would not survive another heartbreak, she would not survive another lost love. She would not open herself to love again, she would not open up to anyone ever again, not even to Howard, Dugan, or Jarvis. She would shut everyone out to protect herself from ever getting her again and Howard did not want that for her. 

Howard walked into the kitchen, where Jarvis was busy making what looked to be some kind of pie. “Have you seen Peggy?” 

Jarvis turned away from the dough he had been rolling out and shook his head no. “I have not seen Miss Carter since she came down from the library, why? Is something wrong Mister Stark?” 

“No, no, I just needed to speak with her, please check on Angie once you are done.” Howard turned towards the stairs leading to the basement and made his way down, barely catching the “Of course Sir,” Jarvis had called out after him. 

Upon entering the basement, Howard was greeted with the soft thud of someone hitting the punching bag that was set up in the corner of the room, followed by a series of grunts and cries of frustration. 

Howard approached the sweaty brunette slowly as she continued to throw punch after punch at the bag. Standing a few feet to the side of the agent, Howard just watched as Peggy poured all her emotions into each punch she flung at the bag. 

“What do you want Stark?” Peggy asked after a few minutes had passed by. She leaned her head against the sand filled bag, taking a moment to catch her breath. She shook out her hands as she faced the billionaire, trying to relieve some of the stinging in her knuckles. Even though she had wrapped her hands before she had started, she still ended up bruising her knuckles. 

“I have some information on the Winter Soldier but it can wait till you are finished.”

“I’m done, what is it?” She held one hand out to him so he could help her take off the wraps. 

Howard set James’s file down on a nearby table and motioned for Peggy to sit on said table. He slowly began unwrapping her right hand in silence as he tried to figure out how to broach the subject, something he figured he should have done before he came down here. 

He wasn’t sure how she would take the possibility that Bucky may be alive and that he may or may not be the Winter Soldier. She had been pretty close to Bucky, mainly for Steve’s sake but close none the less. 

“Spit it out Howard,” Peggy barked as he moved to take the wrap off her other hand. 

“According the Angie and this file,” Howard pointed to the file then opened it to the first page. “James Buchanan Barnes survived the fall from the train and is under Hydra’s control as the Winter Soldier.” 

“Howard, there is no way that Bucky could have survived that fall, no one could.”

“Logically I know that but they have the same eyes and Angie swears that it is him.” Howard reached in the back of the file and pulled the picture of the Winter Soldier out, placing it next to the picture of Bucky.

Peggy picked up both photos and studied them closely. She remember the soldiers eyes from when he had her by the throat. They had looked familiar, she just could not place them but looking at the photos now, she could see the similarities in the eyes. The big warm brown eyes that she knew Steve loved were staring up at her from the photo of the Winter Soldier. 

How could that be possible? How could Bucky had survived that fall? And if he somehow did, how did Hydra get him to turn on his Country? On his friends? Bucky was a good man, he believed in his Country, he believed in what he was fighting for, there was no way he would turn on everything he believed in so easily. 

“I haven’t had a chance to read through the file but I remember Dugan saying that Hydra had been doing experiments on prisoners and that Bucky had been the only one to survive them, what if whatever they did to him is what kept him alive after the fall?”

Peggy flipped through the file. There wasn’t anything on what kind of experiments they did on Bucky when the 107th had been captured, but Peggy guess they were trying to recreate the same experiment done on Steve. 

“There's nothing here on the experiments, but read through it anyways, I want to know everything they did to him after they managed to pull him from the ice.” Peggy stood up from the table and handed the file to Howard.

“Where are you going?”

“I'm going to see if Dugan has any idea what kind of experiments Hydra was doing on Bucky, if we are lucky he'll know something,” Peggy answered as she made her way to the stairs.

“Angie gave you this file?” Peggy stopped and turned back towards Howard and asked. 

“Yes, she wants to help him, to save him.”

“Our first priority is her Howard, Dugan and I will look into this but I need you to help her, understand?”

“Of course Pegs.”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, this took forever to get posted and for that I am sorry. Life has been really busy lately and some family stuff had came up but the good news is, I am also done with the next chapter. So hopefully I'll have it up by the end of the weekend. Thank you all for sticking with me, I know I say it every time but thank you.

“I don’t know what they did to him Peggy, Steve saved us before they decided to take me to be experimented on next,” Dugan told the agent, who sat across from him, drink in one hand and cigar in the other. 

He watched as she bounced her leg up and down, brows furrowed in thought. She was unraveling at the seams and Dugan figured it would not be long before she had a break down. 

On top of worrying about finding Fennhoff and stopping him, trying to figure out what he had done to Angie, and trying to clear hers and Howard’s name, the last thing she needs is for Bucky to be alive and under Hydra’s control. 

She was already carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and Dugan didn’t think she could handle saving Bucky too. Peggy is the strongest person that he knows but everyone has their breaking point and he believes Peggy has finally found hers. 

“Did you see anything while you were escaping the compound?” 

“We were fighting for our lives Peg, we weren’t really looking for what they were doing to our guys.”

“Right, of course.” Peggy stared down at her drink before downing what was left. 

Dugan reached forward and placed his hand on her bouncing knee, stilling it. “You know, you don't have to do this alone, you don't have to carry the weight of the world on your own, there is enough of us here to share the burden.”

“The burden is mine and mine alone Tim,” her voice was low as she spoke, her tear filled eyes trained on the floor in front of her. 

She wasn’t sure when she had started crying and she wasn’t really sure what she was crying about. Maybe everything had finally became too much, maybe she had finally broken. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand before looking back to Dugan. 

“Who says? Who says that you have to do this alone? Who says that your friends can't help you?” Dugan asked, raising his voice, making Peggy flinch slightly. He did not mean to raise his voice, he just wanted Peggy to understand that she has people on her side, that she has people more than willing to shoulder the burden she has placed on herself.

“Me, I bear the burden so no one else has to.” 

“That may be the noble thing to do but at some point you have to stop taking care of others and start taking care of yourself, you are going to end up destroying yourself one of these days Peg,” He took her left hand in between his own and held tightly onto it, meeting her watery eyes. “Angie needs you whole, she needs you to take care of yourself, we all need you Peggy, but we don’t need you to carry the weight of the world by yourself, we are all in this together, let us help, please.” 

“Let me bear this alone Dugan, I got everyone into this mess, every bad thing that has happened to us is because of me and every bad thing that will happen until this is over will be because of me, I deserve to shoulder the burden alone.” 

“This is not your fault Peggy, and this is not Howard’s fault, it is Hydra’s, it is Fennhoff’s.”

“I wish that were true,” Peggy sighed pulling her hand out of his and standing up, walking over to the large window in the room. 

She placed her forehead against the cool glass and stared out at the setting sun that casted a orangish hue across the sky. It was beautiful, almost breathtakingly so and she wished she could relax enough to enjoy it. 

Dugan moved to stand next to the agent, draping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a sideways hug. “Tomorrow night, we’ll hit where they were keeping Angie, search for something more on the Winter Soldier, maybe we’ll find something that will lead us to where they took off to and maybe something to help Howard figure out what they did to Angie.”

Peggy nodded leaning into his embrace. She would probably never admit it in a million years but sometimes she just needed someone to hug her, sometimes she just needed someone to make her feel like everything wasn’t slipping through her fingers and that everything was going to be okay. She needed someone to make her feel like she was doing the right thing for the people around her. 

“We will figure it all out Peggy, and everything will go back to normal,” Dugan reassured her. 

“I hope you are right,” she whispered back.

 

Jarvis carried a tray with a two pieces of pie and two steaming cups of coffee up the stairs. Everyone but Angie had come down for a slice, not that he blamed her. He knew she wanted to join them, that she longed to be able to sit around the dining room table and enjoy a meal with everyone. 

He had taken to eating every meal with her, so she did not have to feel alone. In those twenty minutes they spend together she is not Miss Martinelli to him, she is Angie. He is not a butler, he is her friend. 

He pushed the library door open with his foot, stepping into the room and looking over it, making sure everything was as it should be. Almost everything was in its place except for the lamp that had been by the balcony doors. 

Angie was sprawled out on the floor next to the now broken lamp.

“What happened?” Jarvis asked, placing the tray down on the desk as he made his way over to the woman on the floor.

“I was trying to change the radio station and I put too much pressure on my leg and it just gave out.”

“You should have called for someone Angie, we would have changed it for you,” he said as he lifted her up off the floor and helped her over to the couch. 

He has told her time and time again not to put too much pressure on her leg, to let it heal before she tried to walk on her own. If she walked on it too soon, she could end up doing more damage and make it take longer to heal. 

“I didn’t want to bother anyone,” she grunted as Jarvis propped her leg up on the ottoman. 

“You wouldn’t have bothered anyone Angie, we are here to help,” Jarvis reassured her as he grabbed the tray from the desk. 

Jarvis sat down next to her, handing her a piece of pie and a fork. They ate in silence for awhile, just enjoying each others company with Angie stealing glances at Jarvis every few minutes. 

“What is it Angie?” Jarvis asked, setting his plate on the coffee table in front of him and picking up his cup of coffee. He watched her over the rim of his cup as he took a sip of the bitter liquid.

Angie chewed on her bottom lip, debating with herself on whether or not to bring up the subject. After Howard had left her earlier she had begun to think about how she had gotten herself into this mess, how she had dragged Jarvis into it with her. From there she thought about Jarvis’s wife Ana and if someone had gotten to her and Jarvis just didn’t know it yet. 

She would never be able to forgive herself if something did happened to Ana because she put both Jarvis’s and Ana’s life in danger when she rescued Peggy. 

“Is Ana safe?” Angie asked,nodding a silent thank you when the butler handed her, her cup of coffee. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Is she safe from Hydra, from the SSR? Does she know what you are involved in?” 

“Yes, she’s safe and yes she knows,” He answered, turning his wedding ring on his finger. “The day we broke Miss Carter out of the SSR building, I told her everything in case something had happened to me, I wanted her to know, I wanted her to know that I was more than just a butler.” 

“Where is she?” 

“She is safe with some friends on the west coast, she lefted before the SSR had a chance to find her, before they had a chance to deport her, before something like-,”

“Something like what happened to me happened to her,” Angie interrupted. 

“Yes.” 

It was quiet again, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Jarvis thought of his dear Ana, hoping that she was okay and hoping all this would be over soon so he could be with her once again. They had not been apart for more than a few days ever since they made it to the States and he missed her. He missed cooking dinner for her, sleeping in the same bed as her. He just missed her. 

Angie’s thoughts were all over the place. She thought of Peggy only briefly as an ache settled in her chest. She thought of James, praying that he was okay and that Fennhoff had not found out about him giving her his file, about him asking for her help. She thought about home, her family and the life she may never go back to. 

“Jarvis?” 

“Hmmm?” Jarvis looked up from his wedding ring and to the young woman beside him. Her blue eyes that were usually so full of life were now brimming with sadness and guilt. It was hard to look at, so Jarvis looked away. 

“I’m sorry that I pulled you into all of this, that I pulled Ana into this.” Her hand reached for one of his and she held on tightly. “If I could go back, if I could do it over knowing then what I know now, I would do it differently.” 

“No you would not,” he stated simply. “You would do everything exactly the same way because you are a good person, because you love Peggy and you would do anything to save her even give your own life and how could I possibly fault you for that when I have done the same for my Ana? We do what we must to save the women we love.” 

 

Angie fell silent again,her free hand playing with the bandage under her shirt as she stared out the balcony window. 

“Do you miss her?”

“Terribly so,” Jarvis answered.

“How do you deal with it? With missing her? With being here risking your life for Howard?” She asked, looking from the window to the butler. 

She needed to know how he dealt with it, how he woke up every morning knowing that he may never see his wife again. She missed Peggy, she missed everything about the English woman and she lived in constant fear that she may never see her again, that she may never be held by Peggy again, that she may never hear her voice again. 

Even though the thought of being near Peggy right now scared her more than anything, she knew she could not live if she could never be with Peggy again, she knew she could not live if something happened to Peggy. 

“I remember that everything I have I owe to Mister Stark and that without him my dear Ana would not be alive and neither would I, I remember that we are the only ones that can stop Hydra, I remember that whether the world knows it or not, it needs us to save it.” 

Jarvis reached over and gave the woman’s arm a soft squeeze. “It’s hard I know but we will all make it out of this alive and everything will go back to normal, you and Miss Carter will get through this together.” 

“I hope you are right,” Angie whispered, giving him a small smile. 

She wanted nothing more than to go back to the way things were, and she hoped and prayed that things would eventually go back to normal but a part of her believed nothing would ever be the same again. A part of her believed that she and Peggy would never be the same again. 

Jarvis looked down at his watch then stood, gathering their plates and coffee cups. “I have to go help Miss Carter and Mister Dugan get ready but I will be back up soon to help you back to your room.” 

“Where are they going?” 

“They are going to search where you were being held for more information on this Mister Barnes, they want to make sure it is really him,” he answered, moving to put a record on for her. 

“They don’t believe me?” She asked, moving slowly to prop her legs up on the spot Jarvis just moved from.

“It’s not you that they do not believe Angie, it is this so called Mister Barnes, as far as they know he died during the war and this could end up just being Hydra’s way of keeping us busy so we are not trying to stop them,” Jarvis came back over and placed a pillow under her legs. 

“Let me know what they find?” 

“As soon as I know, you will know,” he promised as he left her alone once more.


	22. Chapter 22

“Peggy, I do not think this is a good idea, I mean the SSR is going to be all over that place, there is no way you will be able to get in and get out without being caught,” Howard said, trying to get Peggy to see reason.

They knew that the SSR is at that warehouse and Howard did not see Peggy and Dugan going there as a good idea. If the SSR did not arrest them then they would surely follow the them back to the mansion.

“I don’t really have a choice Howard, we need to know if this is really Bucky and we also need to know what Fennhoff did to Angie.” Peggy shoved a shotgun into a black duffel bag, along with a box of shells.

“There is always a choice Peg, just wait a few more days.”

“By then the SSR would have already taken all the evidence, I need to go now.”

“She’s right Stark, we can’t wait much longer, besides Peggy and I have gotten into places with way tougher guards than what the SSR can produce, we will be fine,” Dugan reassured Howard, giving him a hard slap on the back and lowering his voice so only Howard could hear. “We have to let her do this, she can’t just sit around here and do nothing, it will drive her crazy, don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe.”

Howard heaved a defeated sigh and began handing Peggy different things they might need while they are gone. He grabbed a walkie talkie off of one of the shelves along the wall and handed it to Dugan.

“I modified it to long range, you will be able to get ahold of one of us here if something should go wrong and you need backup, if for some reason you can’t talk just press the red button on the side and it will send a signal to us,” Howard said, going back to tinkering on some invention.

Jarvis descended down the stairs, carrying as small blue cooler with him. “I prepared some meals for you, incase you two get hungry while you are out.”

“We won’t be gone that long Jarvis.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, never pass up food Peggy, never.” Dugan took the cooler from the butler with a grin. He sat the cooler down on the table next to the duffel bag Peggy was packing. “Relax Pegs, everything will be fine.”

“I also packed a box of Mister Stark’s finest cigars in for you Mister Dugan.”

“You are a good man Edwin, if Stark here ever fires you, you come to me and I’ll give you a job,” Dugan walked over to Jarvis and ruffled his hair as if he were a child.

Jarvis ducked out from under the commando’s arm and frantically began fixing his hair, mumbling under his breath.

“Timothy, stop bothering Jarvis,” Peggy ordered, collecting her Walther PPK.

She ejected the magazine and began loading .380 rounds into it. Once the first had been loaded, she set about loading three backup magazines. The tension in her shoulders seems to disappear as she focused on the task at hand. She had always found comfort in loading her pistol, almost as much comfort as she found in disassembling and cleaning her pistol. Another thing she had picked up during the war.

“How is Angie?” Howard asked Jarvis, not bothering to look up from whatever invention he was working on.

Jarvis looked over to Peggy, who was staring at him expectantly, awaiting his answer. He thought about telling them of Angie’s fall or their talk but decided against it. Peggy did not need another thing to worry about right now and he did not think Angie would want everyone to know what they had talked about.

“She is doing well, she was listening to a record when I left her.”

Peggy stared at him, waiting for more. She needed more. She needed to know if Angie was still afraid of her. She needed to know if Angie was dealing with what Fennhoff had put her through. She needed to know if Angie was healing. She needed to know if Angie had smiled today, that smile that took her breath away every time she saw it. She needed to know if Angie had been singing along to the record that’s playing, like she was singing on stage to a room full of people that had came just to see her. She needed to know if Angie’s blue eyes were as full of life as the day she had met her. She needed to know if Angie was her Angie again, even if just a little bit.

For a few seconds every day, she thinks that Angie might not ever be hers again. She thinks that things may never be the way they were before and that kills her inside. If she doesn’t have Angie then what does she have?

After realizing that she had been staring, Peggy looked away from the butler and back down to the rounds of ammo she held in her hands. Sighing, she placed them back into their box and closed it. She could not afford to get distracted by thoughts Angie right now. She packed the extra magazines she had loaded into the duffel bag and zipped it up.

She placed her pistol into the holster strapped to her right thigh and slung the duffel bag over her shoulder. She turned to Dugan. “Ready to go?”

Dugan nodded, picking up the cooler from the table, he followed Peggy up the stairs to the main floor.

“Be careful out there and take the Plymouth!” Howard yelled up after their retreating forms.

Dugan followed Peggy through the kitchen to the garage that he swore held more cars than any car dealership he had been to. Every make and model of cars from the past fifteen years was in this garage and Dugan had never seen anything more beautiful than this. He wished that he wasn’t here to help Peggy and that he was just here on leave, so that he had time to drive every car in the room.

“Which Plymouth?” Dugan asked, running his free hand over the slick black paint job of a 41 Plymouth P12. There was several Plymouths to choose from and each were as beautiful as the last, at least in Dugan’s opinion.  

“Doesn’t matter, just pick one so we can get going.”

Dugan nodded and opened the driver side door to the 41 he had been eyeing. He placed the cooler in the back and took the duffel bag from Peggy, throwing it in the back as well. Just as he was about to get into the driver seat, Peggy slid in before him.

“Well you drive then,” he mumbled. His shoulders were slumped as he made his way around the car to the passenger side.

As soon as Dugan was seated in the passenger seat, Peggy revved the engine and drove off, navigating the car through the maze of the garage. Honestly, she did not understand why Howard needed so many vehicles in the first place. He never drove them all and it was difficult to get the cars in and out of the garage.

They drove in silence for awhile, Dugan stared out the window watching the dark landscape pass them by at high speed. Peggy was focused on the road in front of them, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles were turning white.

The Commando looked over at Peggy, studying her. She looked tired, drained, she looked as if all the fight she had left in her was gone. She looked as if she was going to break down at any moment and never recover.

Did Angie mean that much to her? After Steve had died, Peggy found a way to soldier on, she found something to live for, to fight for. Angie wasn’t even dead and Peggy was acting as if she had lost Angie, she was acting as if Angie had died.

Maybe a part of Angie did die, the part that had known and loved Peggy.  He didn’t know, he hadn’t known Angie before Hydra had gotten ahold of her. He didn’t know the way Angie had been with Peggy before. He wished he had been able to see it, he wished he had been able to see Peggy truly happy. After everything she had been through, she deserved to be happy.

“You’re staring,” Peggy took her eyes off the road long enough to look over at him.

“Yeah, sorry, I’m just worried about you is all.”

“Come on Dugan, not you too, I’ve dealt with losing Steve, I can deal with this thing with… with,” Peggy paused, taking a deep breath and gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. “Angie.”

This wasn’t her. She knew how to keep her emotions in check. She was a trained agent for God’s sake, she knew when and how to shut out her feelings, put her walls up and work or at least she used too. She never let losing Steve get in the way of doing her job, never let it get in the way of protecting people. protecting the world. So why did what was happening with Angie throw all her training out the window? Why couldn’t she keep her emotions in check? Why couldn’t she shut everything out and do her job?

“This is different though because what you feel for Angie is more than what you felt for Steve and you aren’t dealing with this, you are just burying it deep inside and that’s not good for you Pegs.”

Maybe he was right. Maybe it was different because Angie consumed every part of her being. Every thought she had was of Angie. Even when facing down death, she thought of only the beautiful blue eyed waitress. Angie was everything, plain and simple.

“Look, I know we don’t talk about our problems, we don’t talk about what’s eating away at us, we drown everything in booze, that’s our talking but Pegs, if you need to talk, I am here for you with or without booze.”

Peggy looked back over to him after pulling the Plymouth to a stop on the side of the roadm about a mile or so away from the warehouse. “Maybe some other time Dugan, right now we have a very important mission to do.”

Dugan reached into the back seat, grabbing the cooler and duffel bag. He handed the duffel bag to Peggy, then opened the cooler. Passing over the neatly wrapped sandwiches and slices of pie, he pulled out the four King Edward cigars that laid beside them. He put them inside his jacket pocket then returned the cooler to the backseat. There was nothing he loved more than a good cigar, well that and a good bottle of bourbon.

“Alright, now we can go.” He smiled at Peggy as he stepped out of the car.

Peggy rolled her eyes, getting out of the Plymouth and walking around the front of it to Dugan. She placed the keys to the Plymouth in the small pouch on the side of the duffel bag then handed it to Dugan to carry.  Dugan slung the bag over his shoulder and the two started their mile or so trek to the warehouse.

Looking through a pair of binoculars, Peggy spotted two young men standing guard at the entrance to the warehouse, each wielding high powered rifles. She handed Dugan the binoculars and pointed to the men.

“We could try around back, we may run into a guard or two but it’s our best chance,” Peggy stated. “I don’t want to hurt any of them but,”

“But you will do whatever it takes to get the information we need, I know Peggy, but I could just talk my way in, let you in some window towards the back,” Dugan suggested. “I’m not a wanted man, they won’t suspect that I am helping you.”

Dugan handed the binoculars back to Peggy and fixed his bowler. “Wait around the side for me to get in, keep your radio on just in case something goes wrong.”

“Be careful Dugan.”

Peggy watched as Dugan walked across the parking lot to the two agents standing guard. She didn’t like sitting around and waiting. She wanted, she needed to be apart of the action. She needed to be doing something, otherwise she just felt useless and felt like she wasn’t doing to help Angie.

“Excuse me Sir, you cannot be here, this building is restricted to civilians,” one of the guards called out to Dugan as he came into view. Both men raised their rifles, aiming at the Commando.

“Hold your fire, I’m on your side,” Dugan said loud enough for them to hear, as he raised his hands in the air and continued walking towards the men. “I’m Timothy Dugan, I’m with the Howling Commandos and I’m here under orders from Colonel Phillips.”

“Stop right there!” The other guard yelled stepping closer to him, as Dugan got within twelve feet of them.

“Alright, alright,” Dugan stopped walking, he reached down with one hand slowly, to the pistol at his waist. With three fingers, he lifted the pistol from its holster and set it on the ground, kicking it towards the guards. “I’m unarmed.”

These two agents were rookies, Dugan could easily take them out without a weapon, if he needed.

“Smith put your weapon down, that’s Dum Dum Dugan,”  the guard behind Smith ordered. He recognized the red moustache, the signature bowler hat on top of his head and the cigar hanging from Dugan’s mouth. This man was Dum Dum Dugan, a Howling Commando, if they couldn’t trust him, then who could they trust?

“We have to do this by the book Jacobs, or it’s our asses,” Smith informed his partner. “Let me see some Identification.” Smith held his hand out for the ID, finally lowering his rifle.

Dugan lowered both his hands and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out his military identification card and tossing it to Smith.

All this reminded Dugan of a time during the war, when he and Peggy had to sneak through a German checkpoint to get into a small town to meet one of their contacts. They had pretended to be a drunk married couple as they handed their fake IDs over to the soldiers at the checkpoint.

He missed the war sometimes. Everything had been black and white then, good and evil. You knew who your enemy was, you knew who you could trust. Now the lines were blurred, the men that they would have once trusted with their lives, were now their enemies and would stop at nothing to stop them. The war had been simple. Now things were just complicated.  

“What’s a Howling Commando doing back in the states?” Smith asked. “Word around the SSR is that y’all are running some secret op in Germany.”

“Well it’s not very secretive it all of the SSR knows, truth is the Commandos have been tasked with tracking down Peggy Carter,” Dugan lied effortlessly and the two agents ate it up.

They were too starstruck to even think that he may be lying to them. And lying to them was too easy, they were so gullible. If these two are the future of the SSR then the world is pretty screwed. Dugan figured they probably wouldn’t be able to tell if a child was lying to them on their best day. The SSR used to recruit men that already had a knack for picking up on lies, that could tell when they were being played and the SSR took those men and refined the skills that were already there. Now it seems they took anyone off the street, men with no skills whatsoever and turned them into piss poor agents.

“Mister Dugan, Sir, I’m sorry but, we can not allow you into the building without permission from Agent Thompson or Agent Sousa,” Smith informed him. “Besides, Carter isn’t in there, the building has been cleared.”

“I was sent by Colonel Phillips, if you want we can find a phone and give him a call, waking him in the middle of the night to explain why you won’t let me do my job,” Dugan said, flicking the ash off of his cigar. “It will be your career, not mine.”

“There’s no reason to involve Colonel Phillips, you can go in, take a look around but just don’t remove anything from the scene please,” Jacobs said. He had just gotten this job and he did not want to lose it. He wanted to serve his Country and this was the best way for him to do so.

_“Dugan, they are going to tell Thompson and Sousa that you were here, want to get them to keep it between you?”_ Peggy’s voice came through his earpiece. 

“Of course, I won’t take anything from the scene, I just want to have a look around, see if maybe Carter got careless and left something behind,” Dugan walked closer to the agents, placing a hand on Smith’s shoulder. “Look no one is supposed to know that the Commandos are going after Carter, so if you two could keep it between us that would be great.”

“Why don’t you want the SSR to know?” Smith asked.

“We don’t know if other agents are helping Carter, we don’t want it to get back to her that the Commandos are after her,” Dugan lied.

“We won’t say anything Sir,” Jacobs promised as he unlocked the warehouse door.

“Thanks boys, I won’t be long,” Dugan called over his shoulder as he walked into the warehouse, shutting the door behind him.

“Fourth window on the right side of the building,” Dugan informed Peggy as he made his way to the window.

“About time,” Peggy commented as Dugan helped her into the building. Dugan rolled his eyes at the agent and flipped her off.

 

The two headed towards the back of the warehouse and down the staircase that led to the secret Hydra safehouse. After doing a quick sweep of the floor to make sure no one was lying in wait, they check room after room for anything on Bucky or what Fennhoff had done to Angie, coming up empty each time.

“One room left,” Dugan stated as they stood outside the room Angie had been held in. “You okay to go in there?”

“I’m fine,” Peggy pushed the door open and reached inside with one hand to turn the lights on.

The bright white light illuminated the room and the first thing Peggy’s eyes landed on was the chair Angie had been tied to. The floor around it was stained with Angie’s blood and it made Peggy sick to think about all the things that might have been done to Angie in this room.

She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and clearing her mind of all those thoughts. She needed to work now, she needed to focus and she could not do that if all she thought of was what happened to Angie in this room, in that chair.

Dugan patted her on the back as he moved into the room, startling her. She sighed and made her way to the left side of the room, looking over the tables with different tools and a few files scattered over them. She flipped open one file and skimmed the first page.

Useless, it was all useless. Every file in this place was on stuff they already knew about, that the SSR had known for years. They had nothing new, nothing to go on, nothing that pointed to the Winter Solider really being Bucky.  They had nothing on what Fennhoff did to Angie. This was all a waste of time and Peggy was starting to lose hope.

“Carter, come check this out,” Dugan called from across the room.

“Find something?”

“Watch,” Dugan puffed on his cigar, pulling as much smoke into his lungs as he could. He exhaled the smoke and it billowed around them before disappearing into a tiny crack in the wall.

“Secret door?” Peggy questioned hopefully.

“Secret door means secret room,” Dugan smiled excitedly as he pushed on the wall that the smoke had disappeared into and it opened with a pop. He loved finding all the little secret rooms and hiding spots that Hydra had, they were always filled with useful information and right about now it look like Peggy could really use it.

They stepped into the small room, shining their flashlights around until they found the light switch. The room held a small desk with a projector on top of it and one chair.

Dugan walked over to the desk and grabbed the sheet of paper next to the projector.

“Enjoy the show Carter, D.” He read aloud, before passing the note to Peggy then he started the projector.

  
_“Why are you protecting Howard? Right now, he is probably convincing Peggy to leave you here, to spare his life over yours, why protect a man like that?” Dottie asked, as she slowly circled around Angie._

_“Did you sleep with him and he didn’t call you the next day?” Angie asked, a small smirk on her lips.“Is that why you are so hung up on him? Because he fucked you and left you?”_

_Dottie stopped in front of Angie and pulled a pair of brass knuckles out of her back pocket. She slipped them over her right hand, making a show of it to the younger woman._

_“I’m trying to help you,” Dottie grunted as she punched Angie in face, splitting her bottom lip open. Angie cried out briefly before straightening back up._

A strangled gasp escaped Peggy’s throat as she watched Dottie punch Angie again this time in the stomach.  

_“Just give him up and we will let you go.”_

_“Fuck you,” Angie spit blood in Dottie’s face, earning a punch to her cheek._

“What was she thinking? Taunting her like that?” Peggy gripped Dugan’s arm as they continued to watch.

“She had balls, she wouldn’t show them that she was scared, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.”

“It was careless, she could have gotten herself killed.”

“You would have done the same thing Peggy, in fact you have.”

“I’m a trained agent, she’s… she’s just Angie.” Peggy took a shuttering breath as the reel continued to play.

_“Why protect Howard when you hardly know the man? Why save him and not yourself?” Dottie reached forward and brushed the hair from Angie’s face, so she could look her in the eyes. “Why protect him when he would give up Peggy in a heartbeat to save his own skin?”_

_“It’s the right thing to do,” Angie choked out, spitting blood onto the floor. “You’ll kill millions if you get your hands on him, their lives are worth more than mine.”_

_Dottie bent down to whisper in Angie’s ear, just loud enough for the camera in the room to pick up. “Your death will have been for nothing, with or without you, we will find Howard and Peggy, and we are going to kill them both once we get what we want from them.”_

_Angie took in a deep breath and slammed her head into the side of Dottie’s, sending the spy staggering backwards._

_“Stupid, stupid girl,” Dottie laughed, tossing the brass knuckles away and picking up a baseball bat._

Dugan reached forward and shut off the projector. Peggy did not need to see anymore of this. She did not need to be put through that.

Peggy picked up the chair and beat it against the wall with a scream, until it broke into several pieces. She had thought not knowing what had happened to Angie was bad but it was nowhere near as bad as seeing it, seeing every hit, hearing every cry of pain. It destroyed her.

Peggy took a minute to regain her composer then removed the reel from the projector and placed it in the duffel bag. “Let’s go home.”

Peggy stormed through the front door of the mansion and straight to the bar. She grabbed a bottle of scotch, pulling the top off and drinking from it, not bothering with a glass. She took two large sallows from the bottle before placing it back down on the bar.

“I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Howard asked, coming into the room.

“Don’t,” Dugan mouthed to the billionaire with a shake of his head.

“Do you have a projector here?” Peggy asked, not turning around to look at Howard. She was sure that if she saw his face before she had a chance to calm down, she might end up beating him into the ground, solving half of her problems.

“There is one set up in the library,” Howard answered, raising an eyebrow at Dugan.

“Where’s Angie?” Peggy did turn to him this time, taking a steady breath and waiting for the need to hurt him to pass.

“She’s asleep, has been for the past hour or so.”

“Good, gather everyone in the library and set the reel in the duffel bag up, I will join you in a few,” Peggy walked passed Howard and Dugan and up the stairs. She needed to see Angie. She needed to make sure she was okay.

She entered the room Angie was staying in quietly, closing the door behind her. She stood by the door waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness before she moved to kneel beside the bed.

Angie was sound asleep, spread out across the bed, taking up all the room like she did when they would sleep together. Her head facing away from Peggy and it was probably for the best. She wouldn’t be able to resist touching her face if she saw it, possibly waking Angie up in doing so.

“I’m sorry they hurt you, I’m going to make them pay for laying a finger on you even if it’s the last thing I do, I will make them pay,” she whispered, fighting the need to reach out and touch the sleeping woman.

She rested her head on the bed. She needed a minute to prepare herself for the rest of that film. She needed to prepare for seeing Angie hurt again and again. She needed to prepare for hearing Angie scream out and cry.

She didn’t want to watch the film. She did not want to see Angie that way. She did not want to see or hear Angie’s pain but she needed to see every horrid thing they did to her because she was going to do the same thing to Dottie and Fennhoff.

After a few minutes, Peggy stood to leave but not before leaning over Angie and pressing the softest of kisses to the side of her head and whispering. “Even if you never remember that you love me and that I would never hurt you, please just remember that I love you, that I loved you from the moment I met you and I will always love you.”

Peggy left the room but not before one last longing glance back at the bed. Oh how she wished she could crawl into that bed next to Angie and fall asleep, and wake up from this nightmare she found herself in.

She entered the library and was immediately handed a glass of scotch by Jarvis.

“Mister Dugan said you could use it.”

Peggy nodded her thanks and took a seat in on the floor, in between the couch and the coffee table. “Let’s get this over with.”

Two hours. Two hours filled with Angie being beaten. Two hours filled with Angie’s screams. Two hours and Peggy had finally hit her breaking point. She couldn’t watch anymore, she couldn’t handle it, not tonight, probably not ever. It was too much to watch in one sitting.

“Can we stop for tonight?” She asked, resting her head on the cool coffee table. “I need to rest.”

“Of course Miss Carter,” Jarvis said, wiping the tears from his eyes then shutting the projector off. The things he had seen during his short time in the war, was nothing compared to the things Angie had to go through. He wished there was some way to make Angie forget what was done to her. She was too innocent, too pure and she did not deserve what happened to her.

Howard and Dugan stood without a word and left the room, each lost in their own thoughts. Each dreading having to sit through more of the film of tomorrow but each knew that if Angie could endure going through all that then they could handle having to sit and watch it.

Jarvis walked to the door but stopped and turned towards Peggy. “Miss Carter, do you need help to your room?”

“I’ll make sure she gets there,” George told him.

Jarvis hesitated for a moment. He wasn’t sure about leaving the physically and emotionally exhausted agent with him. He did not fully trust Mister Martinelli and he wasn’t entirely sure why. With a soft sigh, Jarvis turned and left the room.

It was quiet for a few moments before George opened his mouth. “Do you see what being around you got her?”

“Can we not do this now?” She asked, not even bothering to look up at him. “Yell at me all you want tomorrow but not tonight please.”

“No, we are doing this now.” George turned the projector back on and Angie’s cries filled the room. “Because of you she had to go through that, she was fine until she met you.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Peggy asked. “Don’t you think I wish I could take it all back? That I could just back and stay away from her.”

“You have to let me take her home, take her away from all of this, it is the only way that something like this doesn’t happen again.”

Peggy stared at him long and hard for a few silent moments. Maybe she should let Angie go. Maybe Angie would be better off far away from her. Maybe Angie could go back to living a normal life.

Angie deserved a normal life or as normal of one that she could get after what happened. Angie deserved not to live in fear. She deserved so much more than Peggy could ever give her. Maybe this was how she could make it up to Angie by letting her go. Letting her live the life she wanted. Letting her live a safe life.

“Okay,” Peggy nodded to herself. “You leave tomorrow night, it’ll be safer for you two to leave at night.”

“You are doing the right thing here Carter.”

“I hope you’re right.” Peggy reached forward for the liquor bottle sitting on the other side of the coffee table. “I hope she forgives me for destroying her life.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter took way longer than I wanted to get up but better late than never right? I'm really sorry this took forever. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I hope to have the next chapter up a lot faster than this one. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Jarvis made his way up the stairs, tray in hand, towards Miss Martinelli’s room. It was still a bit early but he needed to change Miss Martinelli’s bandages before he had to sit and watch more of that awful recording with the others. 

He dreaded every second that brought him closer to having to see everything that Miss Martinelli had been through. He had hardly slept a wink last night, every time he closed his eyes he saw the poor woman’s face twisted in pain. He could not imagine what she saw when she closed her eyes at night.

He hoped that she did not relive those things every time she closed her eyes. She did not deserve to have to relive that.

The door to Angie’s room was slightly ajar and Jarvis could hear someone moving around. “Miss Martinelli, you better be in bed and not moving around of that leg of yours,” Jarvis said as he pushed the door the rest of the way open with his foot.

George stood by the closet with Angie’s clothes in his hands.  Angie sat on the edge of the bed, arms folded across her chest loosely as she stared at her brother.

“What are you doing?” Jarvis asked, placing Angie’s breakfast on the dresser by the door.  

“I’m packing Angie’s stuff,” George answered, stuffing the clothes in his hands into a large brown suitcase. “We are leaving tonight, we are going home.”

“You can’t leave, it’s not safe for her out there, New York is not safe for Miss Martinelli,” Jarvis urged as he brought Angie her tray of breakfast.

“Thank you,” Angie whispered with a sad smile to the butler.

She did not want to leave. She knew that Peggy could and would protect her. Even with her being afraid of being in the same room with Peggy, even with the fear of just thinking of being near Peggy, Angie knew that she could trust Peggy, she knew that Peggy would do everything in her power to keep her safe. And she did not understand how George could not see that.

“Anywhere near Carter isn’t safe!” George yelled.

“Did you talk to Miss Carter about this?” Jarvis asked.

“Yes, she told me to take Angie home,” George replied, a smug smile gracing his chapped lips.

“And when did you talk to her?” Jarvis asked through gritted teeth, trying to keep the anger  bubbling inside him in check.

He did not lash out at people. He knew how to hide his anger and any other emotions but the thought of Angie leaving the safely of the mansion, under Peggy’s orders no less, had him fuming. 

“Last night.”

“Last night? When she was drunk? When she was not in the right state of mind after watching  _ that  _ recording?”

Edwin Jarvis was in no way a violent man but in that moment, staring at the smug look on George’s face, Edwin Jarvis wanted to step forward and wrap his hands around George’s neck until he understood that what he was doing was hurting not only Peggy but Angie as well. Jarvis saw those two women as family and he would do his very best to protect them, not just from bodily harm but from heartbreak as well.  

“What recording?” Angie asked but both men ignored her.

Neither of them wanted to let her know that Fennhoff had been recording everything they did to her. Neither of them wanted to let her know that they had all seen what she went through.

“Why does it matter?”

“Why does it matter?” Jarvis raised his voice, stepping into George’s personal space. “Her guilt was eating at her more than ever last night and you took advantage of it, of her, she would have said anything, anything to keep Miss Martinelli safe for harm again, even if it’s not the best thing for her.”

“This is the best thing for her, this is the only way to keep her safe,” George argued. “I am the only one who can keep her safe.”

“You can’t protect her, none of this would have happened to her if you had gotten to her in time, if you would have been there when Underwood showed up,” Jarvis yelled, jabbing his finger into George’s chest.

He had never been so angry in his life. He could not believe the nerve of George. How could he for one second believe that he could do a better job of protecting Miss Martinelli than Miss Carter? And what gave the two of them the right to decide what was best for Miss Martinelli when she was perfectly capable of deciding for herself?

“None of this would have happened to her if she would have never gotten involved with Carter.”

“Enough!” Angie yelled, causing both men to look at her.

Jarvis kneeled in front of the bed, taking one of Angie’s hand in his own. “If you want to leave, if you want to go home, tell me and I will not argue any further but if you want to stay then I will not let him take you.”

George scoffed behind him, with his arms crossed over his chest. There was no way that a butler would be able to stop him from taking his sister far away from here, so he could come back and finish his mission without her being in harm's way. He had to deliver Stark and Carter to Fennhoff soon or else Angie would end up paying the price.

“I don’t want to go.”

“Alright, then it is settled, you are not leaving and I will make sure of that. “ Jarvis squeezed her hand then stood, “I will be back.”

With that Jarvis left the siblings alone once more, George continued packing his sister’s things while Angie pushed her breakfast around on the plate, no longer having an appetite.

“George, I don’t want to leave, I want to stay, I want to stop Hydra, I want to do something meaningful with my life.” Angie looked up from her plate to her brother, who didn’t even bother looking over at her as he spoke.

“If you stay here Ang, if you stay with them, you are going to get yourself killed.”

“They will protect me, Jarvis is a good man, he will protect me,”

“Jarvis is nothing more than a glorified butler, he can’t protect you.”

“I am not leaving, I am going to see this through, I am going to help them stop Hydra, I am going to help them save the world and you can stick around and help us or you can go back home, it’s up to you but I am staying.”

She wanted to do something meaningful with her life. She wanted to be more than a waitress, she wanted to be more than a actress. She wanted to fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves. She wanted to protect people from Hydra and she wanted to do it with her brother by her side but she will do it without him if she has to. She will do it with the small family she has made with Howard, Jarvis, Dugan and  _ Her. _

“You are going Angie, even if that means I have to force you into that car tonight, you are going home with me where it’s safe.” George shoved the rest of her clothes into the suitcase and zipped it up.

“I am trying to do what is best for you, you may never forgive me for it but one day you will realized that this is the only way to keep you safe.” With that, George grabbed the suitcase and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

 

“PEGGY CARTER!” Jarvis yelled, marching down the hall, past Dugan’s room where the door opened and Dugan stuck his head out, peering sleeply at Jarvis.

Jarvis paid the Commando no mind and continued onto Peggy’s room, calling out her name once more only louder this time.

He was going to give her a piece of his mind and he was going to make it very clear that Miss Martinelli would not be leaving unless she decided to all on her own.

Arriving at Peggy’s door, Jarvis grasped the doorknob and opened the door forcibly. “Miss Carter!” He exclaimed, looking around the room and coming up empty.

The queen size bed that sat against the back wall was still made from the previous morning. The room looked untouched, as if Peggy hadn’t been in here at all.  Jarvis wandered if Miss Carter had even come in here since he moved her stuff from the room her and Miss Martinelli had been sharing before she was taken by Underwood.

He did not blame her for not wanting to sleep in a big empty bed when the woman she loved was just down the hall. He just wished she would not fall asleep at the desk in the study. The woman needed a good night’s sleep, in a bed without any interruptions.

Jarvis shut the door then walked towards the library, where he was sure he would find Miss Carter. He should have checked there first. He should have known that George would not have kept his word last night. He should have known that after George cornered Peggy that he would have left her there alone, with her guilt clawing away at her insides.  

Pushing on the semi open door to the library, Jarvis stepped in, his eyes immediately landing on the Agent, passed out with her head on top of the coffee table, an empty bottle of liquor clenched in one hand.

His anger almost subsided completely upon seeing her like this,  _ almost _ . He should have never left her alone with George, he should have made sure she made it to a bed and away from any form of alcohol. The drinking was getting out of hand, and she was surely going to drink herself into a early grave if she kept this up.

The projector was still on and stopped on a close up of Angie’s face. Jarvis could clearly see the streaks of tears running down her cheeks but in her eyes was nothing but determination. From the look in her eyes, he could tell that she had decided that no matter what they did to her, she would never tell them what they wanted to know. He wondered if Fennhoff had seen that too. He wondered if Fennhoff realized that she was a lost cause, that she would die before giving up Peggy.

Dugan entered the room, took one look at Peggy, then the projection screen and shook his head. “Oh Pegs, why are you doing this to yourself?”

With another shake of his head, Dugan kneeled down next to Peggy. He pried the bone dry whiskey bottle from her hand and set it aside. He smacked her cheek several times in an attempt to wake her up but it was no use, she was out cold.

Dugan stood and picked the sleeping woman, throwing her over his shoulder. “Could you run a cold shower?” He asked turning towards Jarvis, who nodded his head yes and led Dugan towards one of the many bathrooms on the second floor.

Jarvis opened the door to a bathroom at the other end of hall, as far away as he could get from Angie’s room. Peggy was placed in the porcelain bathtub and Dugan set about removing her holster and the gun that sat in it.

“Now, when she wakes up, she is going to be very pissed, so I would stay out of arm’s reach,” Dugan informed the butler as he reached for the cold water faucet.

“You’ve done this before?” Jarvis asked, his voice and features lined with worry.

How many times has Miss Carter gone through phases where all she did was drink her problems and feelings away?  How many times has Mister Dugan had to put her into a cold shower to sober her up?

“A few times, she bottles up her feelings until she breaks then she drinks, it happens and we deal with it,” Dugan answered and turned the water on.

The second the freezing cold water hit Peggy’s face, she nearly jumped out of the bathtub, a string of cuss words falling from her lips.

“Peggy, you need to calm down so Jarvis can talk to you,” Dugan said cautiously, reaching over and turning the water off as Peggy glared at the two of them.

Jarvis was sure if looks could actually kill someone then both Dugan and himself would be dead.

“What do you want Mister Jarvis?” Peggy asked through gritted teeth, standing up and pulling at her soaking wet clothes that clinged to her body. There was nothing she hated more than the feel of wet fabric against her skin.

A pounding set in right behind her eyes as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for the butler to speak up. She was starting to regret drinking so much last night, but she had felt so terrible and that bottle was right there, calling to her, promising to take it all away, and she was weak and she did not want to feel anymore. She wanted to drink until she stopped feeling, until she forgot the sounds of Angie’s cries and screams. She wanted to drink until all she felt was emptiness.

“You told George he could take Miss Martinelli home, back to New York,” Jarvis accused.

“I what?” Peggy stared up at him in confusion as she brushed a piece of wet hair behind her ear. She did not remember much about last night, all she really remember was that damn recording.

“You told me that I could take Angie home, tonight,” George answered from where he stood by the bathroom door. “And I am going to take her back where she belongs.”

“New York isn't safe for her,” Jarvis nearly screamed at the man.

“Here isn’t safe for her either,” George said.

“Nowhere is safe, for her or any of else,” Dugan spoke up, placing himself between Jarvis and George.  “We are all being hunted by the SSR and Hydra, the only way we stay alive, stay safe is together.”

Peggy nodded her head in agreement, not that it really mattered, no one was paying attention to her at this point. They were too busy staring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move, to pay Peggy any attention.

For a moment Peggy felt like she was back at the SSR, she half expected them to turn to her and give her their lunch orders.

“No, I am taking my sister home,” George argued, stomping his foot on the bathroom tile like a child.

And then the yelling started again. All three men tried talking at once, each one louder than the last. Peggy was sure her head was going to explode if they did not shut up.

“What does Angie want?” Peggy asked,but once again they ignored her.   

With a heavy sigh, Peggy got to her feet slowly, swaying slightly. She reached forward and grabbed Jarvis’s shoulder, keeping herself upright. She met each man’s eyes then spoke. “What does Angie want?”

“She wants to stay,” Jarvis answered immediately.

Hope sparked in the pit of Peggy’s stomach.  _ She wants to stay. _

Angie wanting to stay had to be a good thing right? It had to mean that there was a chance that her Angie, the Angie that loved her was still there right?  It had to mean that here was a chance that things would go back to normal, that they would be together again right?

“She stays then,” Peggy orders.

“She doesn’t know what she wants, you have her brainwashed into thinking that she can save the fucking world, that you cannot stop Hydra without her help, you got her thinking that she’s some fucking superhero like Captain America for God’s sake!” George yelled at Peggy. “And it is going to get her killed, you are going to get her killed.”

The hope that she had felt moments ago went up in flames. What if George was right? What if staying here did get Angie killed? Was it best for Angie to be safe and alive but for Angie to still fear her? Or was it best to give Angie what she wanted and let her stay and possibly get killed in the process?

She did not know what to do. Either choice would take Angie away from her and she did not think she could live without Angie. How could she decide when any decision she made would be a selfish one?

Dugan grabbed a hold of Peggy’s hand, catching her gaze and spoke softly to her. “She is an adult Peggy, she can decide what is best for her, you do not need to put that pressure on yourself, let her decide.”

Peggy nodded her head. “Okay, Angie decides for herself.”

* * *

 

Howard groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. How was a man to get his beauty sleep when there was nonstop yelling from down the hall? What the hell did they have to fight about so early in the morning anyways?

The shouting died down for a few seconds before it started up again. Fed up with the noise, Howard threw his pillow across the room and got out of bed, stumbling towards the door. He yanked the door open and stormed down the hallway, ready to give whoever was yelling a piece of his mind.

“Howard!” Angie called out to the billionaire as he passed by her bedroom.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around, heading into Angie’s room. “Yes?”

Angie patted the spot on the bed next to her, inviting him to sit with her. “Can I ask you something?” Angie asked after he had sat down. 

“Sure.” He answered, picking at the breakfast on the tray that sat between the two of them.

“The recording that Dugan and Pe-,” Angie started to say her name but fear spiked up in her chest and she had a hard time keeping it from showing. “The recording that they found last night, what was on it?”

Howard studied her for a moment, then picked up the untouched glass of orange juice from the tray, taking a slow sip from it. He wasn’t sure whether telling her what was on the recording was a good idea but he did not like the idea of lying to her about it.

She deserved to know that Fennhoff was recording their ‘sessions’ together but he was not sure if he was the right person to tell her. Surely it would be better coming from her brother or maybe Jarvis? Instead of from a man she didn’t really know.

Angie stared at him with those puppy dog blue eyes, they were pleading him to tell her and how could he say no when she looked at him like that? How could he say no when those eyes reminded him so much of the man he loved?

“It was of you and what they did to you.” He finally answered, looking away from those blue eyes.

It was quiet for a few minutes as Angie turned that information over in her head. Why would they record that? What point did recording what they did serve? Did they just want to watch what they did to her over and over again? Did they think they would find some new information that they might have missed? It did not make sense to her.

“Why?” She asked. Maybe he understood why they did it.

“Well, they wanted to torture her, they wanted to make her hurt, make her pay for protecting me.”

“She has seen it?” Angie asked quietly, sounding almost ashamed that Peggy had seen her like that.

It was easier for Angie not to call  _ Her _ by her name. Fear did not course through her when she referred to Peggy as  _ Her _ .

“Yes,” Howard nodded. “We tried to talk her out of it, but she was dead set on watching it.”

“Why would she do that to herself?”

“She feels that she deserves to hurt, because of what they did to you, so she watched it and she will watch it again and again, over and over until she feels that has paid for what happened to you,” Howard explained.

Angie nodded and began picking at the food between them. The yelling continued down the hall and a headache was starting to form at her temples. She honestly did not understand why they were arguing about whether or not she was leaving. It was her choice and she did not want to leave and she was not going to leave, George was not going to make her.

“I am going to go shut them up, I’ll be back in a little while okay?” Howard said around a mouth full of bacon, he patted her knee as he stood. “Hang in there, we’ll figure this all out, things will go back to normal soon.”

“I hope so.”

 


	24. Chapter 24

"You can not be serious Howard,” Peggy exclaimed as she paced in front of the billionaire.  

She could not believe that he would even suggest a thing like that after everything Angie had been through. Honestly she did not see how it would even help them, how it would benefit them in anyway, it would just hurt Angie even more.

“Peggy, come one, this might be the only way to find out why she is so scared of you, this could jog her memory,” he explained, following her movements with his eyes.

“You can’t make her relive that Howard, it’s cruel.”

Howard just stared at her for a few moments. She made it seem like he wanted to make Angie watch that recording. She made it seem like he would find some kind of pleasure in it, like he would enjoy making her relive all the terrible things Fennhoff did to her.

He did not want to make her watch that damn recording. He wanted to destroy it and be done with it but he had hit a brick wall in figuring out why Angie was so scared of Peggy and that reel of film was possibly the only thing that could help him at this point.

“Do you really think I want to make her relive what they did to her? I don’t want to, I don’t even want to watch it but it is the only way we are going to fill in the gaps in her memory and the inconsistency in the recording.”

Angie could not remember anything that had happened after they had branded her skin with the Hydra symbol. No matter how hard Howard pushed her, everything after that was a blank, up until Bucky had given her his file.

“What are you talking about?” Peggy asked. She had seen that recording several times and had not noticed any inconsistency, though she never made it to the end. She could not work up the nerve to watch them brand Angie. She could not bring herself listen to Angie’s  agonizing scream that came when one’s flesh was being seared by hot metal.

“Look,” Howard said pointing to the projection screen.

_“Come on Angie, I need you to stay awake, stay with me,” Fennhoff patted Angie’s cheek gently, as if he were trying to wake a sleeping child._

_Angie lifts her head slowly with great effort as if it weighed a ton, and opened her eyes just as slowly, with a groan._

_“Good girl,” Fennhoff smiled at her. “Now, I need you to listen carefully, what we are about to do next is very important and if you don’t listen then all this would have been for nothing.”_

The video cuts out for half a second then comes right back on, so fast that Peggy barely caught it. She wasn’t even sure how Howard was able to catch that.

Angie was not longer sluggish in the recording, she was wide awake and the ropes that had once  tied her hands to the arm of the chair was gone and a knife was held firmly in one hand.

_“Peggy will be here soon, don’t worry,” Fennhoff stood and walked out of the camera’s view._

_Angie’s gripped tighten around the knife in her hand and her breathing quicked as she stared towards the door with wide eyes._

Howard cut the film off and turned to Peggy. “Whatever happened when they cut the camera off is the cause of her fear but she doesn’t remember and maybe this is a long shot but this is our best bet at finding out what happened.”

Peggy exhaled a shuddering breath and ground the palm of her hands into her eyes. All she could picture was every way that this could go wrong, every way that it could backfire and do more harm to Angie and she wasn’t sure it was worth the risk.

“What if it doesn’t work? What if it makes things worse?” She asked, looking at Howard with tired eyes.

“We could spend all day asking ‘what if’ or we could ask Angie if she is willing to do this and go from there,” he answered.

Honestly he had absolutely no idea if this would even work, or if it would cause Angie more harm but he did know that this was the best option that they had, short of getting ahold of Fennhoff and ‘asking’ him what he did to Angie.

He hoped, he prayed to a God that he no longer believed in that doing this would not cause Angie anymore trauma, would not cause her anymore pain. He didn’t think he could live with himself if it did. He had already caused Angie so much pain and he did not want to be the cause of anymore.

Peggy scrubbed her hands over her face and let out a soft sigh. “As soon as it becomes too much for her, you turn it off Howard, do not push her too far.”

“I won’t Pegs.”

“And Howard,” Peggy called out to him as he tried to leave the room. “Don’t let George know what you are doing.”

After the screaming match about whether or not Angie was staying yesterday, Angie had told Jarvis that George said that he was taking her home no matter what, even if he had to use force. Another screaming match started when word got back to Peggy, one that ended with Peggy pinning George against a wall and her threatening to break every bone in his body if he tried to take Angie home against her will.  

Now, Dugan stood watch at Angie’s door day and night to make sure George did not try anything.

“Don’t worry Peg, I do not want to deal with him at all.”

Peggy nodded and watched him leave the room before leaving as well. Howard headed to the library and Peggy needed to get as far away as possible, otherwise she would be tempted to see Angie, tempted to touch her, hold her, tell her that she loved her and that she was so damn sorry that this happened to her and that would get them nowhere, that would just make things worse and Peggy did not want to make things worse. She wanted Angie to be okay, or as okay as she could be right now.

She really hoped that the faith that she had in Howard was not misplaced, she really hoped that this plan worked. She was beginning to tear at the seams and she needed Angie. Maybe it was selfish to only think of herself but dammit, when in her life had she ever been selfish? When has she ever put herself before someone else?  Never. She never put herself first, she never thought of only herself and maybe it was time she be a little selfish.

* * *

_You can do this, You can do this. You can do this._ Angie told herself over and over. She had already lived through it once, how hard could watching it really be? They could not hurt her anymore, she was safe, she was surrounded by people that cared for her and  would protect her.

She had to do this right? Whether she wanted to or not. Howard said it was their only option and he would not lie to her, not about this, would he? No, he wouldn't make her sit through this if it wasn't totally necessary, he is a good man and he wouldn't cause her any unnecessary pain, she knows that.

She hated that she was finding it hard to trust anyone at the moment. She was constantly second guessing everyone’s motive and she was scared the people she once trusted without a second thought was going to hurt her in some way. She hardly trusted her own brother since she had been rescued. It did not help that he had been acting strange lately.

She just wanted this over with. She wanted her life back. She wanted her crappy job at the diner back. She wanted her small apartment back. She wanted to stop feeling so scared every time she thought about _Her._ She wanted to be with _Her,_ like before. She wanted the little bubble of happiness that they were living in back and if this was the only way to get it back, then she would grit her teeth and bare it, no matter the pain it caused her.

“Are you ready?” Howard asked, placing his hand lightly on her left shoulder.

“I’m ready.” She nodded, balling her hands into fist, digging her nails into her palm.

“The second it becomes too much just say so and I will turn it off,” He reminded her as he started the projector then took a seat next to her, grabbing his pad of paper and pen from the coffee table.

Instead of watching the recording, Howard watched Angie, taking note of her emotions and reactions. He watched as she inhaled sharply with every scream. He watched as her body tensed with her hit she received in the recording. He watch as her hands unconsciously came up to touch the spots where she was beat repeatedly. He watched as she whimpered and dug her nails into her thighs when the waterboarding started.

Guilt gripped his heart like a vice and he struggled to breath. This was his fault, he was causing her this pain. He was making her watch this because he was not smart enough to figure out what Fennhoff did to her. He should have found another way, he should have come up with something that would not have caused her anymore pain.

  
“Can we take a break?” Angie asked, her voice low and her eyes filled with unshed tears as she looked over at him.  

“Of course.” He reached over and shut the projector off. “I’m sorry, I did not think this through, I should have found another way.”

“I can do this,” Angie said and Howard wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself. “I can do this.”

“Okay, we'll start again whenever you are ready,” Howard told her with a squeeze to her hand. “Do you need anything?”

Angie looked at him with tear filled but determined eyes. “I need _Her_.” The tears fell from her eyes and rolled slowly down her cheeks as her chest tightened and a sob escaped her lips.

She wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in _Her_ arms. She wanted nothing more than to bury her face in _Her_ neck. She wanted, no she needed to feel safe and protected by _Her._ She needed the one person in the world she couldn't have right now.

Howard just watched her cry, unsure on how to comfort her, or if he even should. He wasn’t good at dealing with women when they cried. It made him feel uneasy, uncomfortable, most of all if made him feel horrible, because more often than not, he was the reason they were crying.

Pushing his feelings aside, Howard wrapped his arms around Angie and pulled her into a tight embrace. He began rubbing his hands up and down her back in what he hoped to be a soothing manner. Angie clinged to the billionaire, grasping fist fulls of his shirt as she sob into his shoulder.

The door to the library opened quietly and Peggy peaked inside, catching Howard’s eyes then looking down to see Angie crying. She looked back up at Howard with a frown and mouthing, “Is she okay?”

She just wanted to see if things were going okay, or as okay as they could go when you make someone watch themselves be tortured. She wanted to see if Angie was okay. If she was being honest with herself, she just wanted to see Angie, to see her bright smile and even brighter blue eyes. It was selfish, so damn selfish and it caused guilt to rip through her, leaving her breathless.

Howard shook his head no and motioned with his hand for Peggy to leave. The last thing Angie needed right now was to add fear along with her pain, if she happened to turn and see Peggy standing at the door.

Peggy knew that this was a bad idea. She knew that nothing good would come of this, yet she let Howard talk her into going along with it anyways. She let Howard cause Angie more pain because she was selfish and just wanted her Angie back. She put herself, her feelings before Angie and now Angie was the one paying the price.

With one last tear filled look to Angie, Peggy closed the door as quietly as she had opened it then went in search of some alcohol.

Minutes that felt like hours passed before Angie’s sobs turned into whimpers and her grip on Howard loosened but she did not move out of his embrace. She felt safe and cared for in his arms, something she had not felt much of since being rescued. Sure, George had been there for her but he was overbearing and constantly trying to tell her what to do and it was too much.

That was not what she needed. She needed this, what Howard was giving her, being held as long as she needed, with no words exchanged. Sure, it wasn’t as good as being held by _Her_ but this was as close as she was going to get and right now that was good enough for her.

Angie pulled back from the embrace and gave Howard a thankful smile. “I’m ready.”

Howard grasped her hand in his as he started the projector back up, figuring that she may need something to hold onto, to squeeze as they watched her get branded on the projection screen.

And squeeze she did, leaving angry red marks on his hand from her nails biting into his flesh as she watched the brand burn away at her skin. She could still smell her flesh burning. She could still feel the excruciating, unbearable pain and she figured she would always remember it, no matter how hard she tried to forget.

Fennhoff had been right, every time Angie looked at herself in the mirror, every time her eyes landed on the bandage covering her chest, she thought of him and everything he had done to her. She would never be rid of him, she would never be free of the pain he caused her.

Once the recording finished, Howard turned towards Angie once more. “Do you remember anything at all?”

Angie closed her eyes trying to recall what had happened after Fennhoff had woken her up. Trying to place herself back in that moment, sitting in that chair with her head and chest aching.

All she could see was a ring, Fennhoff spinning that damn ring on his finger over and over as he spoke. She focused on the ring and his voice, trying so hard to remember the words that left his mouth.

“He had this ring and he kept spinning it, I couldn’t look away, it was like I was in some sort of trace.” Her eyes widen in panic as she looked over at Howard, remembering. “He asked me where we were staying and I told him, I didn’t want to but it just came out and I couldn’t stop it, he knows where we are.”

“He knows where we are Howard, we have to leave, he’ll come for me, for us,” Angie urged desperately, panic filling her voice, her nails digging into his arm, her blue eyes blown wide with fear.

“Hey, hey, hey, you’re safe here Angie, no one is coming,” Howard reassured her, his hands smoothing up and down her back.

“No, he’ll come for me, I know he will,” Angie’s breathing picked up as she felt like the room was closing in on her. Her grip on Howard’s arm tightened even more, to the point of her nails breaking his skin. She felt like she couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs and her heart beat wildly against her chest.

“Calm down Angie, you are okay, you are safe, just breathe slowly,” Howard spoke softly, in what he hoped was a calming voice. “Close your eyes and just breathe.”

Angie closed her eyes and took a deep breathe.

“Good, now think of a happy memory.”

“I can’t,” Angie whispered, keeping her eyes closed tight and drawing in slow steady breaths.

“Why?”

“Because all of my happy memories involve _Her,_ everything worth remembering involves _Her_.”

“Then think of when you first met her, when you didn’t even know her name, when she was just a stranger to you,” Howard urged.

He was hoping that maybe thinking of Peggy would draw her out of her panic attack and calm her. He was hoping that thinking of Peggy would not freak her out anymore and he was hoping that thinking of Peggy when they first met, before Fennhoff tainted the image of Peggy in Angie’s mind, would ease some of the fear Angie felt about the other woman.

Angie took another deep breath and thought back to the day she had first met _Her_.

_12 hours. Angie had been working for 12 hours straight. Angie had been on her feet for 12 hours straight. Angie had endured 12 hours of creepy men slapping her ass and hitting on her. 12 hours Angie had to deal with demanding customers for little to no tips. 12 hours and Angie was ready to close up the Automat, go back to the Griffith and crawl into her bed with a bottle of peach schnapps._

_The bell above the door chimed and Angie suppressed a sigh. 30 minutes, they closed in 30 minutes and it was just Angie’s luck that some asshole would stumble in expecting to be served._

_“Kitchen is closed,” Angie said, not bothering to look up from the table she was wiping down._

_“Oh, I’ll just be going then,” A very British voice said._

_Angie whirled around facing the woman standing in slightly damped clothes, from the rain, with her fist clenched tightly to keep herself from shaking. Never had she heard a voice so heavenly before, never had she heard a voice that she could spend hours on end listening to._

_Angie’s eyes wander up the woman’s legs, that seem to go on for days, up to chest, where her eyes stopped briefly taking in the white button down shirt clinging to the woman’s breast,  up to bright red full lips that were pulled up in a smirk, that Angie wanted nothing more than to kiss, then finally up to warm brown eyes with tiny brunette hairs in front of them ._

_Angie Martinelli did not believe in love at first sight. It was a thing of fairy tales, of childhood dreams, but staring into those brown eyes, that were so full of life, Angie started to believe._

_The woman in front of her cleared her throat, pulling Angie from her thoughts. “There’s some coffee and a slice of rhubarb pie left if you want it, English.”_

_The brunette stepped closer to Angie, a small, warm smile gracing her lips. Her eyes found Angie’s nametag and her smile widened. “That would be lovely, Angie.”_

 


	25. Chapter 25

Howard left Angie in the library and went in search of Dugan, to keep an eye on Angie, while he found and talked to Peggy about everything he had learned in the past three hours. He was worried about Hydra knowing where they were at but he was hoping that they would be able to use that to their advantage.  

Angie remembered everything. Every tiny detail, every word Fennhoff had spoken, every single thing that Fennhoff and Dottie had done to her and Howard wished that she didn’t. He wished that she was just able to forget, that she could go back to living a normal life, that she never went through it all in the first place.

He knew he couldn’t change the past but maybe, just maybe he could make the present and the future better for her. He was not sure how he was going to do that but he would do whatever he had to do to make sure that the rest of Angie’s life was everything she ever dreamed about. It was the least he could do for her.

Howard walked down the hall towards Dugan’s room, hoping to find the commando there. He did not want to leave Angie alone for too long, in case George decided to try to take her home without anyone knowing.

Knocking on Dugan’s door, Howard waited until he heard a grunt for the other side before pushing the door open.

Dugan sat at the desk in the corner of the room, disassembling and cleaning  a Colt M1911, cigar hanging from his lips as he wiped down the barrel of the Colt with an old cloth.

“How is she?” He asked, not bothering to look up at the billionaire.

Howard took a seat on the edge of the desk and began fiddling with one of the rounds for the Colt. “She's doing better than I expected.”

“She is a lot stronger than she thinks, she is a lot stronger than you, Peggy, and George give her credit for,” Dugan said, cleaning each part of the pistol. “You and Peggy compare her to Steve a lot, which is great, you two obviously have a type, and there is no better man, no better person to be compared to than Steve Rogers but it is unfair to Angie to constantly compare her to him.”

“What do you mean?” Howard asked.

Dugan was right, they did compare Angie to Steve a lot. The two shared a lot of the same qualities and maybe he and Peggy did have a type but he did not see how it was unfair to Angie. Who wouldn’t want to be compared to Captain America?

“Steve was strong, he was brave, he was kind and he was fearless and selfless and yes Angie is all those things too but she is stronger and braver and kinder and more fearless and selfless than he was, he spent his whole life fighting, standing up to bullies so it was only natural that he wanted to serve his Country and do his part but Angie was just a waitress and an inspiring actress and she left everything she knew behind and jump into the unknown to save Peggy, to protect people who can’t protect themselves, Angie is a hero in every sense of the word.”

Howard never saw it like that. They might have been just a few years apart but Steve in many ways was so much older than Angie, he had grown up a lot faster than Angie had, after losing both of his parents and being on his own with Bucky being his only family.

In many ways Angie was still a kid, she was still innocent, she was still learning and growing, she was still trying to find her own way in this world. Then Peggy came into her life and turned her whole world upside down and Angie embraced it without a second thought.  

She fearlessly and selflessly risk her life to save Peggy because she loved her, because she trusted that Peggy was the good guy in all this and that the SSR just had it wrong. She was brave enough to leave everything she knew behind and followed the woman she loved because it was the right thing to do, because someone had to stop Hydra but, mostly because she did not want to live without Peggy.

Howard and Peggy should not have been comparing them at all. They were two extraordinary people, who may have been very much alike but were also so very different and it wasn’t fair to either of them to compare them to one another. They were both heroes in their own way. Steve was driven by a sense of duty to his Country and Angie is driven by her love for Peggy. Both heroes who deserved so much better than what they got.

“You’re right, we shouldn’t compare the two,” Howard admitted, standing up from the desk. “They both deserved better than the cards they were dealt, take Angie outside for a bit, she needs some fresh air.”

“Howard,” Dugan called before the billionaire could leave the room. “Have you figured out how you are going to help her get over her fears? Or at least lessen them?”

“I have an easy way and a hard way to help her, I’m going to talk with Peggy and see what she wants to do,” Howard answered.

Dugan nodded and set about putting his Colt back together. Howard left him there and went in search of Peggy, hoping to find her sober. He had asked Jarvis to get rid of all the alcohol in the mansion but he wasn’t sure if Peggy had hidden a few bottles from them.

Her drinking was getting out of hand and getting in the way of helping Angie and stopping Hydra. She did not see her drinking as a problem but everyone else did and they just wanted to help her even if she did not want their help.

They could not stop Hydra if Peggy was not at her best and that meant she had to stop drinking and that Howard needed to get Angie back to normal. Angie is the key to helping Peggy, to get her to stop drinking and get her back on track to stopping Hydra and clearing their names.

Howard searched every room on this floor for the British woman and came up empty. With a sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair and headed down to the first floor. How come every time he needed to talk to Peggy, she was nowhere to be found? It’s like she knew he needed her and just disappeared because she did not want to deal with whatever he had to say, like she would rather drink than face any problems right now.

He used to be like that, well truthfully he still is sometimes. It is easier to drink away your problems than to deal with them. He understood, he really did but now was not the time to start binge drinking.

Not finding Peggy on the first floor, and not in the garage either, Howard headed down to the basement, praying that she was down there and that she hadn't just took off after seeing Angie crying.

Stepping off the last step of the stairs, he caught sight of Peggy in the corner of the room, doing push ups on a thin blue mat.

“Hey,” he called out to her as he made his way over, so he did not startle her. “I haven’t seen you really workout since we left New York.”

“Yeah, well I probably wouldn’t be if someone hadn’t thrown all the liquor away,” Peggy grunted, looking over her shoulder at the billionaire as she continued with her push ups.  

“Well, I am glad you decided to exercise rather than drink.” He smiled at her, even though she was no longer looking at him. He strolled over to her, his hands resting in his pockets and sat down on her lower back, earning another grunt from the woman as she tried to push herself and him up off the ground.

“I wanted to, I wanted to have Jarvis drive me to a store so I could buy a bottle, buy several bottles and drink until I couldn’t feel a thing.” Her voice was strained and her arms shook with his weight as she pushed herself up off the ground once more.

She was ashamed that all she wanted to drink until she forgot that Angie was scared of her, until she forgot that look of fear in Angie’s blue eyes, until she forgot that things may never be the same again between them.

“You didn’t and that’s a good thing, you should be proud of yourself,” Howard said, squeezing her shoulder and standing. “Now, should we talk shop?”

He sat crossed leg in front of Peggy, picking at  his cuticles at he waited for her to acknowledge him. He did not want to rush her, he did not want to talk about it, about Angie until she was ready.

Peggy did not say anything at first, just continued with her push ups and did not look up at Howard. She was afraid of what he found out. She was afraid to know what else Angie remembered, if she remembered anything at all. She was afraid for Angie, for what remembering might do to her, she was afraid it would hurt Angie more.

“Did she remember anything?”

“She remembers everything but only two things are important at the moment,” Howard answered, looking up at her. “One, they know where we are and they probably have someone watching us right now, waiting to strike, to make a move or whatever, and two, he hypnotized her with some ring and made her believe that she is afraid of you, that given the chance you will hurt her, kill her.”

Peggy stopped mid push up and looked up at Howard quickly. “They know where we are? Don’t you think you should have started with that?”

“Maybe,” Howard said with a wave of his hand. “But we have bigger problems right now.”

“Howard, they could be planning to attack us at any moment.” Peggy stood and pulled him off the ground with her. She did not understand how he was not more worried about this. They were not prepared for an attack by Hydra. They weren’t ready for any kind of surprises right now. “What bigger problems are there?”

“Angie said they already knew where we were before she told them, so either they planted a bug on one of us, or,” Howard paused looking Peggy in the eye. He did not like thinking that one of them could be working with Hydra.  “Or, someone here is feeding info to Hydra.”

A bug they could find and handle, even use it to their advantage but if someone here was leaking information to Hydra then they had big problems. There is only six of them in the house and Howard did not want to believe that one of them was working with Hydra but it was a very real possibility that they needed to take seriously.

It was more likely that there was a bug planted on one of their jackets, or their bags but they needed to be prepared if there was no bug and one of them was a traitor.

“It has to be a bug Howard,” Peggy says, grabbing her pistol of the table to her right, checking to make sure it was still loaded. “I’m not feeding info to Hydra, neither are you, Dugan would never help them after what they did to him and neither would Angie, Jarvis is loyal to a fault and George,”

She met Howard’s eyes quickly, realization dawning on her. They did not actually know George very well, other than the fact that she and Steve rescued him during the war, that he is Angie’s older brother and that he is an ass and wants to control Angie’s life.

He could easily be the spy. He could easily be working with Hydra to keep Angie alive. They hardly see him at all, unless he is yelling at someone about what they should do with Angie. He mostly keeps to himself, always disappears after they make some plan to move against Hydra.

_ “No.” _ Peggy thought. She could not just jump to George being a spy without hard proof. Angie would never forgive her if she accused him and she was wrong. And if Fennhoff had actually somehow hypnotized her, this could all be a part of his plan, to drive them apart and put them at each other’s throats.

“We can’t just jump to conclusions on this,”  Peggy stressed. “You and I look for a bug, we keep an eye on everyone and we prepare for Hydra to strike, we cannot get caught off guard, we cannot let Hydra get you or any of the inventions you have stored here, and we,” she ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. “We find a way to help Angie.”

Peggy sighed deeply. She really needed a drink right now, she did not want to deal with any of this right now, or at all. She hoped that they find a bug somewhere and that George is not helping Hydra. It would kill Angie if he was helping them, if he was involved with her getting tortured. She would probably end up killing him, or beating him within an inch of his life if he was involved with Hydra getting ahold of Angie.

“Do you have a plan?” She asked.

“I’m working on one,” he answered, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning up against the wall behind him. “Hydra does not know that we know that they know where we are and we could use that to our advantage.”

Peggy sighed and rubbed her temples, she could already feel a headache forming. “What?”

She usually had no problem keeping up with Howard and his plans, but today she just couldn’t keep up with him. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was still slightly hungover, or if it was because she had been off her game every since Angie had been taken. Either way, she knew she needed to get her shit together.

“We have the upper hand here, I say we use it to get Fennhoff and his ring, kill two birds with one stone as they say,” Howard went on. “We draw out whoever is watching us, get them to tell us where Fennhoff is hiding, we get him and the ring, turn him into the SSR and use the ring to help Angie.”

He smiled proudly at her then frowned when she looked unimpressed. “Something wrong with the plan?”

“It’s half assed for one,” Peggy replied, folding her arms across her chest, mirroring Howard’s stance. “It is an outline of a plan, we need a detailed one Howard.”

Howard rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, starting to walk towards the stairs leading out of the basement but Peggy reached out and pulled him back. “Obviously it’s an outline of a plan Peg, we need Dugan and everyone else to help lay out a full detailed plan.”

“We don’t let them know about the bug or one of us possibly working for Hydra,” Peggy ordered. “That stays between us, it could cause a panic if they find out and it’ll cause George to push even harder to get Angie out of here.”

Howard nodded. He understood, the last thing they needed was everyone to be suspicious of one another and George fighting Peggy even more than he already is. Peggy could only handle so much and he knew she was at her breaking point. If anything else went wrong, if anything else happened to Angie, she would go off the deep end and Howard wasn’t sure if they would be able to pull her back.

“What if the ring doesn’t work?” Peggy asked, looking down at her boots, dragging the toe of her left boot across the concrete flooring. “What if it makes things worse?”

It is all Peggy could think about. All she saw was things going wrong, things getting worse, with Angie, with Fennhoff and with the SSR. She could not find an ounce of hope inside of her and it was starting to eat away at her. She needed to have hope, even if was just a little bit but all she had was a deep dark pit despair.

“Well then we go with my other plan to help Angie,” he answered, placing his hand on her forearm, trying to offer her some sort of comfort and reassure. “I always have a plan B Peggy, and C, and D.”

He squeezed her arm and gave her a soft smile when her wet brown eyes met his. “We will get through this, we always do.”

“I hope you are right,” Peggy said, patting his hand before walking away from him and out of the basement.

Howard thought about following after her but decided against it. She needed to be alone right now, to gather her thoughts and pull herself together.

He waited a few minutes then called Jarvis down, telling him to get the others and bring them down, so they could start working on a plan. It would be hard to do when they could not all be in the same room together but they would have to make it work. They needed a detailed plan and they need one fast, before Peggy completely shut down. They needed something to finally go right for them, anything no matter how small,  just to show Peggy that they could make it through this, that things could go back to normal, that they could get her Angie back.

“Alright,” Howard clasped his hands together in front of him, once everyone was standing around the large round table that Howard moved to the middle of the room. “We have to come up with a plan to take Fennhoff down and I need your help.”

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been done for about a week and a half and I am just getting around to posting it. I'm having trouble writing the next chapter, so it might be awhile before it gets posted. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

George stood over the round table in the basement, pouring over a map of Boston, trying to look busy and he listened into Howard’s and Peggy’s conversation. Two days and they had still not come up with a plan to take down Fennhoff and they were not any closer to coming up with one. 

Every time someone formed a halfway decent plan someone else would shoot it down, causing a fight to break out. Everyone was restless, aggravated and the littlest of things set them off. They were tired and ready for this whole mess to be over with.

George  watched from the corner of his eye as Peggy walked around the room, shoving things into a backpack, swaying every few steps, with Howard following behind her.

She was drinking again. George fought off a smug smile as he watched the pair. Breaking Peggy had not been as hard as Fennhoff had thought it would be. They just had to take away the one thing that Carter loved the most and then allow her pain and guilt to drive her to self destruction.

He wondered  if Angie would still love Peggy, if she saw her like this. Nothing more than a drunk, a shell of the woman she had once been.

“Peggy, you can not do this, it is stupid and reckless,” Howard said, following behind Peggy like a lost puppy.

“I have to do this, it is the only way to stop Fennhoff, it is the only way to help Angie,” the agent argued, sounding every bit as tired as she looked.

“You cannot help Angie if you are dead,” Howard nearly screamed at the woman. “Help me out here George.”

George sighed and suppressed the need to roll his eyes at the pair. Did they really feel the need to drag him into their little spat. Honestly he did not care if Peggy went out and got herself killed. With her out of the way, he could hand Howard off to Fennhoff and finally take Angie home, where she belonged.

“He’s right.” George loathed to say it. It made him physically sick to say, to even think that Howard Stark was right in any way but he had to keep his cover. He had to complete his mission so he and Angie could get out of this alive.

“I’m doing this for Angie,” Peggy grabbed a M3 submachine gun from a rack of rifles and checking to make sure it was loaded before slipping her arm through the strap attached to it. She allowed the machine gun to hang loosely from her side as she grabbed extra loaded magazine for it.

“You are not thinking straight,” Howard snapped. “Getting yourself killed will not help Angie in any way, it will destroy her.”

“I haven’t thought straight since the moment I laid eyes on Angie,” Peggy smiled at the man, swaying slightly as she moved to the staircase leading out of the basement. 

“You’re drunk aren’t you?” Howard accused, gripping Peggy’s upper arm and pulling her away from the stairs.

“I may have found the flask hidden under your pillow.”

Howard looked at Peggy with utter disgust and disappointment, letting go of the woman’s arm and stepping back. “You know what? I’m done, you want to go get yourself killed go right ahead, I am not going to stop you, I’m not going to try to help you anymore.”

“That’s fine, I don’t need your help anyways.”

Peggy stormed out of the basement and George rolled his eyes at her retreating form. Those two were so melodramatic. Honestly he wished he could just kill them and get it over with.

“We have to stop her, if we just let her go, Angie will never forgive us,” George stated, following Peggy up the stairs.

As much as he wanted to let Peggy go, let her get herself killed, so he could deliver Howard to Fennhoff himself and finally cut ties with Hydra for good, he knew that Angie would blame him for not stopping Peggy, for allowing Peggy to go off on her own and getting herself killed. Angie would never speak to him again and George, he could not live with that. His sister meant everything to him, more than his own life. Everything he was doing, he was doing to keep her alive.

Howard huffed but followed George anyways.

They made it out the front door as Peggy was throwing her backpack and machine gun into the passenger seat of the Plymouth.

“Don’t do this Peggy,” George called out as he walked down the steps of the mansion. “Think about Angie.”

“I am thinking about Angie,” Peggy told him then slipped into the driver seat, slamming the door closed  and starting the engine. She rolled the passenger window down and looked at George.

“Take care of her.” 

With that, Peggy put the car in drive and sped out of the driveway and onto the road, leaving Howard and George staring after her.

“Mission is a go, a tan van just started following her,” Howard said into the radio he pulled out of his pants pocket.

George whirled around to look at him, confused. “Who are you talking to?”

Howard pointing to Jarvis and Dugan who were pulling out of the driveway in another car.

“There was a bug on one of Peggy’s jackets, and there are two Hydra agents watching us, Peggy, Jarvis and Dugan are going to capture them, bring them back here and we are going to interrogate them for information on where Fennhoff is hiding out.” 

George stared at him, dumbfounded. They tricked him. He actually believe that they were fighting, that Peggy was really drunk, that Peggy was really going to risk her life and try to take Fennhoff out.

He was impressed. He did not think that they had something like that in them.

“Come,” Howard said, clasping him of the back. “We have an interrogation room to set up.”

* * *

 

Peggy ripped the bug out of the lining in her jacket, and tossed it out the open window as she kept her eyes on the road ahead of her. 

She had not been sure that their plan would actually work, that the men watching them would actually take the bait but she and Howard must had been more convincing than she had thought. She just hoped that the rest of their plan went off without a hitch.

Looking into the rearview mirror, Peggy spotted the van two car lengths behind her and Dugan two car lengths behind the van. She dug into the backpack with her right hand, searching for the small radio she shoved in there. Once she had ahold of the small device, she pulled it out and flicked it on.

“Jarvis,” she spoke into the radio as she turned left off of the main road and onto a side street. She needed to find some place to ambush them at, like a deserted alley or something, so they could grab the two agents without any civilians getting hurt or worse, killed.

“Yes, Miss Carter?” Jarvis’s voice crackled through the small speaker.

“We need a place to lead them to, preferably one with little to no civilians,” Peggy told him as she swerved the car slightly, keep up the appearance that she was still drunk.

By appearing drunk, she was hoping to lure the men into a false sense of security, hoping that they would let their guard down and get close enough for her to knock them both out without too much trouble.

“There is a nightclub about four blocks away, very few people around there during the day.”

“Okay, that will work, wait until they are out of the van and are walking towards me before you pull up behind them Dugan, we don’t want them jumping back into the van and driving off.”

“10-4 Pegs,” Dugan’s gruff voice came over the radio.

Peggy dropped the radio on the seat next to her and reached back into the backpack, feeling around and pulling out the taser she had placed in there earlier. She had wanted to take the men on with just her fist but Dugan and Howard insisted that she use the taser, saying something about it being less of a risk.

The thing was, Peggy wanted to take the risk. She wanted to feel physical pain instead of the emotional pain she has felt for days on end. She wanted to get hurt, get hit, she felt like she deserved it.

And God, she wanted to hit someone. She wanted to take everything she was feeling out on those men but she couldn’t. They had a job to do and she could not let her feelings get in the way of that. They had one shot at this and they could not screw it up.

Pulling the car into the alley behind the nightclub, that was littered with trash and random objects, Peggy took a deep steadying breath to settle her nerves. No matter how many missions she has been on, no matter how many times she had faced down death, she was always nervous before a mission. Something she was very thankful for. It kept her alert, kept her on her toes, it kept her alive.

Peggy shut the engine off and took another deep breath. She left the keys in the ignition as she placed the taser in the waistband of her pants. She reached down to make sure the pistol strapped to her ankle was still there. She placed a small knife in the inside pocket of her jacket.

Once she was satisfied that she had enough back up weapons, in case something went wrong, she grabbed the silver flask, filled with water, from the backpack and stepped out of the car. She walked around to the front of the car and leaned against the hood, taking a sip from the flask.

She pretend not to notice the van pulling up behind the car. She pretend not to notice the two men walking towards her. She hummed a tone that she often caught Angie humming when she cooked or cleaned.

The two men walked around both sides of the car, flanking her or so they thought. Peggy waited until they got within arms reach then attacked.

She hit the man on her left first, punching him in the jaw and swiftly kicking him in the stomach, sending him staggering back and gasping for air. Satisfied that he wasn’t getting up for a few minutes, she turned to the other man, quickly noticing how young he was.

He looked no older than nineteen and for just a moment Peggy considered not attacking him, not hurting him because he was just a kid. That moment of hesitation was all the young man needed.

He lunged forward, tackling Peggy to the filthy ground and delivered blow after blow to her face.

Peggy blindly reached her left hand out, feeling around for something, anything to hit the kid in the head with, to knock him off of her.  Sure, she could just pull her knife or gun out but she did not want to risk killing him. She needed him alive, she needed them both alive.

Her fingers grasped at what felt like some kind of wooden board. Her fist closed around one end of it, lifting it up and bringing it down on the side of the boy’s head, causing him to stop his attack on her face and move to cover his head as Peggy continued to hit him in the head with the board.

Dugan and Jarvis finally decided to join the fight and pulled the boy off of Peggy, knocking his feet out from under him and pressing a taser to his side. Once they were sure he was no longer going to fight them, Jarvis placed the boy’s hands behind his back and handcuffed him.

“About time you showed up,” Peggy grunted, standing up and looking to the older Hydra agent, who was already handcuffed and kneeling in front of her car.

Wiping her bleeding nose with the back of her jacket sleeve, Peggy walked over to the kneeling man. “Where is Fennhoff?”

He smiled at her, showing his bloody teeth before spitting at her. “I’m not telling you anything.”

Peggy looked down with disgust at the mixture of blood and spit that landed on her chest. “Wrong answer.”

Peggy drew her fist back and punched him in the face, harder than the first time, hard enough to knock him over.

He just laughed at her, spitting the blood out onto the asphalt.  “You can’t win this Carter, you should just give up now.”

Peggy grabbed the collar of the man’s shirt and drew her fist back once again. She would beat the information out of him if she needed to and she wouldn’t even feel bad about it, at least for right now.

When the anger and the pain, and the need to make someone pay for what happened to Angie faded, then she would feel bad, then the things she had to do to get the information she needed, would eat away at her slowly, maybe even consume her. And she would let it consume her, let it destroy her if it meant that Angie would be okay again. She would sacrifice herself for Angie a thousand times over.

The man smiled up at her again, a glass pill sitting between his teeth. He allowed Peggy to get a good look at it, allowed her to figure out what it was before he sucked it back in his mouth and bit down on it, swallowing it quickly, grimacing as the small shards of glass cut at the back of his throat.  

“Cyanide,” Peggy whispered to herself, letting go of the man’s collar. He wasn’t going anywhere, not anymore, he’ll be dead in a few minutes.

“Dugan, he has a cyanide pill,” Peggy turned to the trio of men, motioning to the man kneeling on the ground.  “Get it out before he swallows it.”

* * *

  
“We can’t torture him for information, we cannot say we are the good guys then just turn around and stoop to Hydra’s level,” Angie argued, folding her arms across her chest and looking at the men in front of her with disgust. “If we do this then we are no better than Fennhoff, no better than Hydra.” 

“We have no choice Angie, I know you don’t like this but it is the only way we are going to catch Fennhoff, the only way we are going to be able to help you,” Howard explained.

He did not want to have to torture the guy. He was just a kid but Howard would do what he had to, to help Angie, to put Fennhoff away for the rest of his.

“If you do this there is no coming back from it, you will have to live with it for the rest of your life, all of you will,” Angie tried to make them understand, tried to get them to see reason. It would not just be the kid they would be hurting, it would be themselves as well.

“What would Steve think if you did this?” It was a low blow, Angie could tell by the look in Howard’s eyes but she did not care. She was not just trying to protect that boy, she was also trying to protect the people who had became her family.

Howard opened his mouth to say something but closed it when Peggy’s voice came in through his and Dugan’s earpiece.

“Steve disobeyed orders and risked his life to save Bucky, to save the rest of the 107th that had been captured by Hydra, Steve would do anything to protect and save the people he cared about, no matter the cost to himself, physically or mentally,” Dugan repeated Peggy’s message to Angie.

“You did not know him Angie, don’t pretend like you did,” Howard growled at the younger woman, hurt shining in his brown eyes.

_ “Cool it Howard,”  _ Peggy ordered.

Howard sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry but we have to do this, I wish there was some other way Angie, I really did but there isn’t.”

“Besides, we are not doing the kinds of things Hydra does,” Dugan promised, reaching forward and squeezing her arm lightly. “We are just going to rough him up until he talks.”

Did it matter the level of torture it was? Did it matter that they would not go as far as Fennhoff did? They would still be hurting that boy for information he might not even have and that did not sit right with Angie.

“What if he doesn’t even know anything?” She asked, looking from Dugan to Howard.

“It’s a risk we have to take,” Howard answered.

“Bullshit, I won’t be apart of this,” Angie gave the two men one last look before storming out of the room.

Peggy stepped out of the interrogation room, staring after Angie’s retreating form, fighting the urge to chase after younger woman. She wanted to go after her, explain to her why all this was necessary, She wanted to explain to her that sometimes you have to do horrible things for the greater good, that sometimes you have go against everything you believe in to stop people like Fennhoff from winning. She wanted, no she needed to tell her that sometimes the end justifies the means.

She needed Angie to understand that she wasn’t taking this lightly. She needed Angie to understand that she did not want to do this but they did not have a choice right now. She needed Angie to understand that she would do whatever she had to to help Angie, to save her, to protect her, even if that meant she became something that she despised.

“One day she’ll understand why we have to do this,” Howard said, breaking Peggy from her thoughts.

“She may never understand why we are doing this, she may never forgive us for doing this but that doesn’t change the fact that we need to do this, it does not change the fact that this is the only way to find Fennhoff,” Peggy nodded towards the door she just came out of. “Ready Dugan?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” He replied, following Peggy into the room holding the young Hydra agent, holding their prisoner.

 


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the long wait on this. Life has been pretty busy lately and it's been hard finding time to write. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

“I don’t know anything!” The young man tied to the chair yelled, a mixture of spit and blood flying at his mouth towards Dugan. 

“Come on Raphael, we both know you are lying,” Dugan stated calming, taking a seat on the table in front of the young man, examining his bruised knuckles. “You know something, just tell me and this will all be over.”

“I tell you then what? You kill me?” Raphael asked, looking up at the man that has been holding him captive and torturing him for two days. “Or you let me go and then Fennhoff finds out I betrayed him and he kills me.”

“We’ll protect you,” Dugan promised and Raphael laughed dryly.

“You can’t protect me, you don’t just betray Hydra and live.”

Dugan watched him for a long moment, contemplating his next move. He did not want to torture the young man anymore. He did not want to slam his fist into the young man’s face anymore. He did not like doing it and he just wished Raphael would give them what they needed so they could put an end to this.

A sigh escaped Dugan’s lips and he stood up, walking briskly to the door and leaving the interrogation room, slamming it behind him.

Peggy exited the door to his right, where she had been watching the two men from a two way mirror.

“I don’t think he knows anything Peg,” Dugan said, leaning heavily against the door he just exited. He was tired and he wanted this to be over with already.

“He has to know something,” Peggy told him, her voice taking on a desperate tone as she walked over and resting her head on his shoulder.

Raphael had to know something, he had to. If he didn’t that meant that they were torturing an innocent man, (Okay, maybe not innocent, he was working for Hydra after all). It meant that they were no better than Hydra themselves.

Peggy would do whatever it took to stop Hydra. She would do whatever it took to reverse what Fennhoff did to Angie, even if it meant becoming just like him but that didn’t mean that she particularly liked the idea.

She hated the idea of becoming like that vile excuse for a human being. Her stomach churned at the idea of being anything like that man but she would always put Angie before herself. She would destroy herself, everything she was, everything she believed in if it meant she could help Angie, protect her.

“What do we do now?” Dugan asked, pulling Peggy from her thoughts.

“We let him sit for a while, I need some sleep and you need to clean and ice your hand,” Peggy replied, grabbing Dugan’s right hand and lifting it up to examine the cut on one of his knuckles.

“Come on,” he said, wrapping his fingers around the hand holding his and pulled Peggy towards the stairs leading out of the basement.

* * *

Angie waited until everyone had gone to their rooms for the night before she got out of bed. With help from a cane she had gotten from Howard, she made her way out the her room and down the hall, trying to be as quiet as possible. Pain shot up her right leg with every step she took but she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from making any kind of noise.

She did not want anyone to try and stop her from helping Raphael. Even though she had said that she wanted nothing to do with him, or what was being done to him, she knew that she needed to help him. She could not just sit back and allow him to get tortured.

She could not keep Dugan and everyone else from torturing him but she could clean him up afterwards. She could get him some food and water, like James had done for her. And maybe that did not make up for the fact that Raphael was being beaten for two days straight but, it was all Angie could do for him, short of letting him go.

She could not let him go, no matter how much she wanted to. She knew what he was going through, she knew how it felt to be stuck in a chair while someone caused you pain over and over again. She knew how it felt to be completely defenceless and powerless and she hated that the people she loved, the people that she cared about were making someone else feel that way.

Upon reaching the staircase, Angie stared down at them, preparing herself for the walk down. It was going to hurt and it was going to hurt a lot, her cane would be of no help.

Gripping the railing tightly, Angie placed her left foot down on the first step. With a deep breath, she lifted her right foot, grunting at the pain that seemed to radiate from the wound on her thigh, she stepped off the top step and onto the next.

After several minutes of struggling and mumbling every curse word she knew, Angie finally made it down to the first floor. Grabbing a pack full of medical supplies and throwing it over her shoulder, she made her way to the door leading down to the basement. She winced every time she picked up her right leg, every time pain shot through her thigh.

It may have only been a week since Dottie had stabbed her in the leg but, Angie wished that the wound on her leg would heal already. She wished she could walk a few steps without pain shooting down her whole leg. She wished every time she stood shirtless in front of a mirror, she wasn’t reminded of what Fennhoff did to her. She wished that she would stop waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat from dreams of that horrible man. She wished she could see the one person she knew could make it all better. She wished she wasn’t so damn afraid of the woman she loved. She wished she did not feel as broken on the inside as she looked on the outside. 

And God, did she feel broken. Every part of her heart and soul felt broken. In Fennhoff’s attempt of breaking Peggy, he ended up breaking Angie as well. He had destroyed everything that Angie was. He destroyed every hope and dream she had ever had.   

With the Hydra symbol branded into her chest, Angie’s dream of being on broadway was over. She would never sing on stage. She would never hear the applause from the crowd after a show. She would never see her name in lights, something she had been dreaming of since she was a child.  She would never become the actress she wanted, something she had been trying to achieve all her life.

Fennhoff did not just make sure she would never forget their time together, he made sure that she would never, ever achieve her dreams. He made sure that she would be an overworked, underpaid waitress.

Part of her believed that she could live with that, that it would all be worth it as long as they actually stopped Fennhoff, as long as they kept him from hurting anyone else but, would she still feel the same way when Fennhoff was gone and they all went back to their lives? Would she still feel the same five years from now when everyone would forward with lives and would go on to do bigger and better things while she was stuck being nothing more than a waitress?

Angie leaned against the door frame leading to the basement. She dreaded walking down those stairs, dreaded the pain that it would cause but she had to. No matter how much she did not want to, she had to, she had to help Raphael. She had to patch him up in the same way that James had done for her. She had to care for him in the same way James had cared for her.

Raphael was only a kid and he did not deserve what was happening to him, no one did. No one should ever be tortured, no matter who they are and no matter what they have done. No one deserves to have to go through that pain, Hydra or not.

Taking a deep breath, Angie opened the basement door and leaned heavily against the wall. There were more stairs than she remembered. It had been easier going up and down the stairs with Dugna helping her but, she could not ask for his help now. If anyone knew what she was doing they would try and stop her and, she could not let them stop her. No matter who Raphael really was, no matter what horrible things he might have done, no matter what information he may or may not have, he still deserved basic human rights and kindness.

Heaving a sigh, Angie made her way slowly down the stairs, using the wall for support. As soon as she made it down to the basement, she veered off towards the right to a room that Howard once tested his experiments but was now a makeshift interrogation room.

She grabbed the key that sat on a hook next to the door and unlocked it, she then replaced the key and opened the door.

Raphael’s head shot up from the table and meet Angie’s eyes as she walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Angie gasped when she caught sight of the reddening bruises that covered his dark skin. They were everywhere, both of his eyes were red and swollen, his right eyebrow bleeding from a small cut there. His left cheek, all the way down to his jaw was one long bruise. His bottom lip was split open and covered in dried blood.

“What do you want Angie?” Raphael asked as Angie tore her eyes away from his face and placed the bag of medical supplies on the table, just out of his reach.

“You know who I am?” She asked, pulling the chair in the corner of the room over to the table.

“I’ve been watching you for days Angie, of course I know who you are,” he answered, eyeing the supplies Angie began pulling out of the pack, waiting for something he could use to pick the lock on the handcuffs around his wrists. “Even if I had not been watching you, every Hydra operative in the US knows who you are, you are Peggy Carter’s greatest weakness.”

Angie tensed at the name and her heart beat sped up as she looked around the small room for the woman in question. Once she was sure that the woman wasn’t hiding anywhere, ready to jump out and grab her at any moment, she resumed her task of sorting through the supplies she would need to clean Raphael’s face.

Raphael smiled at her. “You’re still scared of her?”

His smile grew when she nodded her head yes, not bothering to look over at him. Fennhoff’s plan had worked.

She sat down in the chair, scooting close enough to where she could reach him but where he could not reach her. She picked up a cotton ball from the table and poured a bit of antiseptic on it.

“This might sting,” she warned him as she brought the cotton ball up to his eye. Using her free hand, Angie tilted his head towards her, giving her better access to the cut.

“I can handle it,” he said, then hissed sharply through his teeth when the antiseptic came into contact with the fresh cut.

Angie raised an eyebrow at him as she continued to clean the blood away. Once she cleaned it as best she could, she taped a piece of gauze over it.

“Why don’t you just tell them what they want to know?” She asked, looking away from the man and grabbing a clean cotton ball, covering it in antiseptic.

“If I tell them Fennhoff won’t just kill me, he will torture me first,” he stated, reaching forward at an inhuman speed and snatching a safety pin from the table while Angie wasn’t paying attention.

Angie meet his eyes with a look of understand. She got it. She understood why he refused to tell them anything. She knew what Fennhoff was capable of. Dugan may beat him within an inch of his life for days on end but that was nowhere near as bad as what Fennhoff could do to him.

They were the good guys once they realized that Raphael would not give them what they wanted they would turn him over to the SSR but Fennhoff, Fennhoff would give him a slow, extremely painful death if he gave them any kind of information.

If Angie was in his place she would take the beatings every time if it kept Fennhoff away from her.

“They can protect you,” she promised, grasping his chin gently as she wiped the blood from his bottom lip. “You help them stop Fennhoff then you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“Cut off one head and two more shall take its place.”

“What?” Angie questioned.

“It’s Hydra moto,” he replied. “Cut off one head and two more shall take its place, get rid of Fennhoff and two more people will take his place and I can guarantee that they will be far worse than he is.”

One of Angie’s hands came up to her chest, tracing the bandage under the button down shirt she had borrowed from Howard. She could feel the snakes burned into her skin underneath the thin bandage. Her eyes glassed over as she became lost in her thoughts.

Could someone really be worse than Fennhoff? Could there be someone out there that was more sadistic than Fennhoff, more evil? Could she and everyone else live with unleashing someone worse than Fennhoff? How many more people would die if someone took Fennhoff’s place?

Were they fighting a never ending battle? Would they ever truly stop Hydra if someone always took the place of the person they stopped? Was this all for nothing? Did Steve die for nothing?  Did she get tortured for nothing?

Angie shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She looked up at Raphael just as he unlocked the last handcuff around his wrist.

Before she realized what was happening, Raphael grabbed a scalpel that was sticking out of the side pocket of the pack. He sprang to his feet, grabbing Angie and holding the scalpel to her neck, pressing down enough to let her know that fighting against him would only end in her getting hurt, or killed.

“Now, you’re going to get me out of here.” He smirked at her as she stared at him with wide, fearful eyes.

* * *

Jarvis walked towards Miss Martinelli’s room, two cups of tea in hand. He had not seen much of the young woman since they had brought Raphael into the mansion. She had not wanted to speak with anyone involved with bringing him into this house, or anyone involved with torturing the young man.

While Jarvis did not like the idea of torturing the man, he did understand why it was necessary. He, like Miss Carter would do anything to help Miss Martinelli, to protect her, to keep her safe, to make she felt loved and cared for, and if that meant going against his moral code, if that meant going against everything he believed in, than that was what he was going to do.

Jarvis cared for Miss Martinelli deeply. He saw her as the younger sister he never had and he would be damned if he did not try everything humanly possible to help her get over her fear of Miss Carter, to help her be happy and carefree once more.

Using the tip of his shoe, Jarvis tapped on Angie’s door and waited patiently for her to call out to him to come on.

When he was met with nothing but silence, he tapped the door again, this time a bit harder. “Miss Martinelli,” he called out. “I was wondering if you would join me for a cup of tea.”

When met with silence once again, Jarvis maneuvered so he was holding both tea cups in one hand, without spilling a drop. Something that he would normally be quite proud of if dread had not filled every ounce of his being at Angie’s lack of response. He feared the absolute worst and he prayed nothing had happened to her, Miss Carter would not survive if something happened to her love again.

With his free hand, Jarvis grasped the doorknob and called out once more, warning the young woman that he was entering, then opened the door slowly.

The room was void of all light except a bit of moonlight shining through the window. In that moment Jarvis felt silly for worrying, Miss Martinelli was sleeping and that was why she had not answered the door. He knew from Miss Carter that Angie was a heavy sleeper, that no amount of noise short of talking in her ear would wake her.

He looked towards the bed, just to check that she was in fact in her bed and asleep. When he saw that the bed was still made from this morning, that dread he had felt moments ago came back ten fold.

Panic rose in his chest as he sat the cups of tea down on the small table just inside the door. He turned on his heels and went in search of Miss Carter and Mister Dugan, one of them was bound to know where Angie was at.

He found them in the library. Dugan was cleaning the cuts on his hands, while Peggy laid on the couch, her arm covering her eyes as she tried to catch a few minutes of sleep.

“Have you seen Angie?” He asked. His fear overshadowing his usual formalities.

Peggy shot up from the couch meeting the distraught butler's eyes. “What do you mean?”

“She's not in her room, I went to have tea with her but she wasn't in there, her bed hasn't been touched since this morning, I'm  _ worried _ ,” he stressed the word as both Peggy and Dugan stood from the couch, both already on edge thinking the worst had happened to Angie.

“Find George,” Peggy ordered Jarvis as she sprinted down to her room to grab her gun.

If George had taken Angie while everyone else was busy with Raphael, Peggy was going to kill him. She couldn’t believe she had been stupid enough to leave Angie unguarded.

Once Peggy had her gun in hand, she made her way towards George’s room, walking through the open door to find Jarvis waking George.

“I’ll check this floor Pegs, you check down stairs,” Dugan said, poking his head into the room.

“Is it really a good idea to send her looking for Angie?” George asked, his voice thick with sleep. “She’s scared of you and if you find her she will start freaking out.”

He was probably right. No, Peggy knew he was right but at the moment she could care less. All she cared about was finding Angie and making sure she was safe. As soon as Peggy knew that Angie was safe she would leave her alone and have the others get her back to her room.

“Right now that doesn’t matter,” Peggy turned on her heels and all but ran down the stairs.

She headed to the garage first, knowing that sometimes Angie woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep so she went to tinker with some of Howard’s cars.

After coming up empty in the large garage, Peggy searched the living room, looking for any signs that the waitress had come through here.

Once again she came up empty. She walked to the foyer to check and see if the front door was still locked. She grasped the brass doorknob tightly and turned it to the right. When the doorknob only budged an inch, she dropped her hands and sighed. The door was still locked which meant that at least Angie did not leave the house.

Peggy turned around in a slow circle, eyes raking over the entire foyer, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She was just about to move on when she spotted the end table that usually held the medic kit was bare.

“Mister Jarvis!” She called, waiting impatiently for the butler to come down the stairs.

“Yes?” He questioned, taking the stairs two at a time with Dugan and George following close behind him.  

“Is the medkit up stairs?” Peggy asked, waving her hand behind her at the end table.

“No, I left it right here,” he answered touching the end table lightly, trying to remember if he had forgotten upstairs at some point. After tending to Angie’s bandages this morning, he was sure that he brought it back down on his way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

“Are we assuming that Angie had the medkit?” Dugan asked, looking between Peggy and Jarvis. “What would she need it for? You change her bandages for her.”

“She would use it to do what Bucky did for her,” Howard said, taking his time walking down the stairs as he ran his fingers through his bedraggled hair.

When everyone just stared up at him, Howard sighed and made his way to the basement, still walking slowly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “She’s patching Raphael up.”

Peggy and George darted past him as panic settled in the pit of their stomachs.

The duo stood on each side of the interrogation room door. Peggy with her walther ppk raised and George with the first gun he found on his way to the interrogation room, which happened to be a shotgun.

Peggy repressed a sigh at his poor choice of weapon. If they ended up in a firefight, George’s shotgun would be useless, it ran the risk of Angie being hit in the crossfire with the buckshot it was loaded with.

They were not sure what they were walking into but they prepared for the worse.

Peggy held three fingers up, slowly putting on finger down every second, signaling when they were to rush the room. Once she had put her last finger down, George kicked the door open and they rushed in.

Upon entering the room, they swept their guns around the room before landing on Raphael holding Angie against him, her back against his front, the scalpel in his hand pressing into Angie’s neck.

“Let her go,” Peggy ordered, leveling her sights at Raphael’s forehead. She had a clean shot. She could take it and end this but that might traumatize Angie farther.

She wanted to shoot the man. She wanted to see his body drop to the floor lifelessly for even thinking he could get away with hurting Angie. That thought alone should scare her but in that moment, it didn’t. All she could think about was shooting the man in front of her, making him pay for threatening Angie’s life.

“You shoot me and this scalpel here cuts into her jugular and she's dead.” Raphael smirked and Peggy tightened her grip on her pistol.

“Let her go,” Peggy repeated this time much harsher than before. She watched Angie squeeze her eyes shut tightly and flinch at her words.

“Peggy,” Howard called softly, trying to get the woman’s attention. He placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze until she looked at him. “You need to leave the room, you’re scaring her.”

Peggy eyes flicked from Raphael to Angie, who was shaking in the man's arms and crying silently. The sight broke her heart all over again. Angie was more afraid of her than the scalpel being held to her throat. Peggy sighed and handed her pistol to Dugan, who was on her other side. She couldn’t help Angie not this time, no matter how much she wanted to. She left the room and leaned against the cool wall outside the door.

“Angie, look at me,” Howard spoke softly to the woman, ignoring Raphael all together. His first priority was to make sure she was okay before he tried talking Raphael into letting Angie go.

Angie opened her eyes slowly, glancing around the room for Peggy. Raphael may be the one holding her hostage but in Angie’s mind, Peggy was the only threat to her. She did not understand how her mind could perceive Peggy as the threat to her life when Raphael was the one ready to kill her.

“Remember when we kissed?” He asked, drawing Angie's attention to him, confusion clear in her eyes. He could hear Peggy let out a low growl outside the room. He was definitely going to pay for bringing it up later but he needed to make sure Angie remembered the moves Peggy had taught her that day.

He knew that she could get herself out of this as long as she did exactly what Peggy showed her. And if anything went wrong, Dugan would shoot Raphael as soon as the scalpel was clear of Angie’s neck.

She remembered. They had been training with firearms that day and she had begged Peggy to show her a few hand to hand combat moves. Peggy caved, like she always did when Angie begged, and they went in search of Howard. He had been reluctant to offer his assistants but a promise of a kiss from Angie changed his mind. Peggy had shown her a few different moves that night, including one on how to get out of the exact situation she found herself right now.

Angie locked eyes with Howard, hoping he understood what she was about to do. As soon as she breaks free from Raphael, she needed them to rush forward and subdue him because she would not be able to move far enough away from him before he had the chance to grab her again.

Howard nodded his head slightly, hoping that no one had noticed but, of course nothing ever went the way they want and Raphael had noticed the nod.

“What are you two up to?” He asked, pushing the scalpel into Angie’s neck more, drawing a bit of blood.

“Nothing,” Howard reassured him. “I was just trying to calm her down before she had a panic attack.”

Raphael studied the man in front of him, ignoring the other two men with guns pointed at him. He wasn’t sure what Stark was playing at but he knew he needed to find a way out of here with his life.

His plan had been to get out of the mansion before anyone else even knew what was going on but obviously that plan had failed and now he had no idea how to get out of here alive. If he released Angie before he was safely away from his captors, they would just end up killing him before he even had a chance to get away. Taking Angie with him was not an options, they would surely follow him to get Angie back and he could not risk leading them to Fennhoff.

“I want a car out of here,” Raphael demanded. “I will take Angie with me and drop her off on the side of the road once I know I am not being followed.”

“That’s not going to happen,” George informed him. “You are not taking Angie anywhere.”

“George please,” Howard held his hand up to silence the younger man. The last thing they needed was to anger Raphael.

He flicked his gaze towards Angie then back to Raphael as sort of a signal that he was ready whenever she was.

Angie drew in a deep breath through her nostrils and slammed her elbow against Raphael’s ribs as hard as she could. Despite the pain in her right leg, she raised her leg and kicked Raphael in the groin with as much force as she could muster.

Everything that happened in the next few seconds were a whirlwind. George tossed his shotgun to Howard, who barely caught it before it hit the ground, and rushed forward, scooping Angie up in his arms and swiftly carrying her out of the room.

As soon as Angie was clear, Dugan slammed the butt of his pistol into Raphael’s temple, not hard enough to knock him out but just hard enough to incapacitate him and send him staggering back a few feet.

Peggy entered the room a few seconds later. She snatched the pistol from Dugan’s hand and grabbed ahold of Raphael’s collar with her free hand. She pressed the barrel of the walther ppk into the side of his head.

“We’re done playing games now, tell me where Fennhoff is or you die,” Peggy said through gritted teeth.

At this point she could care less if he told her where Fennhoff was or not. She wanted to kill this man. She wanted to see the life leave his eyes just because he had threatened Angie, just because he held a scalpel to her neck.

“Cut the act, we both know you are not going to kill me, your moral code won’t let you.”

“My moral code went out the window when you held the woman I love hostage.”

Looking into Peggy’s eyes, the smug smirk that Raphael had been wearing moments before fell and fear clouded his hazel eyes. He now had no doubt that this woman would actually kill him if he did not give her what she wanted.

It was like he watched the humanity drain from her eyes and watched as it was replaced with that same heartless look at Fennhoff had. He was not sure whose wrath he feared more, Peggy’s or Fennhoff’s.

Peggy dug the barrel harder against his temple causing him to hiss in pain. “Where is Fennhoff?”

“He’s at Bare Hill Pond, there’s a cabin two miles from the water,” he admitted, looking away from the woman’s eyes. “There’s at least twenty men protecting him, including the Winter Soldier.”

“Dugan,” Peggy called over her shoulder, letting go of Raphael’s shirt and dropping the pistol from his head.

“Yes?” Dugan stepped next to Peggy, taking the pistol out of her tight grip. He wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that she wouldn’t end up shooting the man just for the hell of it.

“Lock him back up.”

* * *

 

Howard sat down on the couch next to Peggy, throwing his legs over her lap. “Want to tell me what that was about?” 

Peggy did not look at him, just continued to stare straight ahead. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? You pointed a gun at that kid’s head, you threatened to kill him.”

“We tortured him Howard, how is pointing a gun to his head any different?” She finally looked over at him, her eyes emotionless, distant. “Besides, we have Fennhoff’s location now, so why does it matter?”

“Do you know why he gave up Fennhoff?” Howard asked, never breaking eye contact with her. “He honestly thought you were going to kill him, he feared for his life.”

“Up until that moment he knew that we were not going to kill him, but whatever he saw in your eyes when you pressed that barrel to his head told him otherwise, so again do you want to tell me what that was about?”

“He could have killed her, he would have killed her and I couldn’t let him get away with that,” she spoke quietly, her voice shaking with anger. “My love for her consumes me Howard, and sometimes I can’t even think past protecting her and making anyone who hurts her, threatens her pay and it scares the living hell out of me.”

Her shame filled eyes meet his and she gripped his hand tightly. “It scares me that I am so willing to kill for her and that I wouldn't even feel bad, wouldn't even feel remorse, how fucked up is that?”

It was crazy right? To be so completely in love with someone that you would kill without hesitation, without remorse just to protect them.

Peggy felt insane, completely insane. She was the good guy wasn't she? She wasn't supposed to be able to take a life so easily. The mere thought of killing someone should keep her up at night. Did that make her the bad guy? Was her moral compass so twisted now that she couldn't tell the difference from right or wrong anymore?

“I'll try to kill Fennhoff when we get a hold of him and you have to stop me Howard, no matter what it takes, knock me out if you have to but you have to stop me,” Peggy urged.

“I'll stop you if it comes to that,” He promised.

It was silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Peggy’s head rested on Howard’s shoulder and Howard’s thumb storked the back of her hand, hoping to relax her, to comfort her the best way he knew how.

“Does that make me a bad person?” Peggy asked, breaking the silence.

“Sometimes good people do bad things for what they believe is right but, I don’t think that makes them a bad person.” He leaned his head against hers. It killed him to see her so tore up about this. It killed him to see her question whether or not she was a good person when there was not a doubt in anyone’s mind that she was in fact a good person. There was few people that Howard believed were truly good and Peggy was one of them. He believed in her in every sense of the word.

“And doing whatever it takes to protect the person you love, definitely does not make you a bad person Peggy.”  

They did not speak again until they decided to call it a night. They stayed on that couch together for a while, drawing comfort for each other's presences. When they each returned to their own beds, they both slept restlessly and woke the next morning groggy and grumpy but ready to finally arrest Fennhoff and be done with him.


End file.
